YouTuber Crash-Tests iPhone 14's Crash Detection Feature – and It Works

A YouTuber has quite literally crash-tested the iPhone 14's Crash Detection feature and found Apple's new emergency SOS function to reliably kick into action in the event of a controlled vehicle collision.

crash test crash detection
Serial gadget-smasher TechRax today published a video (embedded below) in which his team can be seen remotely controlling a driverless car containing an iPhone 14 Pro strapped to the headrest of the driver's seat as they attempt to plough it into a stationary vehicle.

After a series of near misses and the addition of several more decrepit road vehicles that form a wall to make for an easier target, the remotely controlled car successfully crashes at low speed in what could be described as a typical fender bender collision.

After what appears to be a short delay, the iPhone 14 Pro's Crash Detection feature is automatically activated, and the phone initiates an emergency SOS countdown, which is manually canceled by the team before it can call emergency services.

On the second successful attempt, the car hurtles into the wall of vehicles at a higher speed, its hood becoming concertinaed in the crash. Again, Apple's Crash Detection feature is reliably activated and then manually canceled by the team.


While the results of TechRax's tests don't necessarily prove that the feature works as reliably in real-world, non-controlled, severe collisions, the fact that it did activate as expected should give confidence to iPhone 14 owners who keep the feature enabled.

For Crash Detection to activate, the iPhone 14's motion sensor with a high dynamic range gyroscope and high-g accelerometer, GPS, barometer, microphone, and advanced motion algorithms must all work together to accurately detect a crash.

Enabled by default, Crash Detection is supported on all iPhone 14 models, Apple Watch SE (2nd Generation), Apple Watch Series 8, and Apple Watch Ultra.

(Thanks, Sonny!)

Related Forums: Apple Watch, iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

davidelkington Avatar
40 months ago
Was anyone else concerned that his out of control vehicle was heading straight for a high voltage electricity pylon?
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
adrianlondon Avatar
40 months ago

Edit: Also, if the crash detection is enabled and the owner crashes and is unable to talk, when the SOS feature dials the emergency services how is the call handler going to know it was the iphones SOS function that called them? because if the call handler does not get a response after a few seconds surely the call handler would hang up siting the call to be a hoax/troll call.
"When your device makes this automatic call, it plays a looped audio message to emergency responders and out loud over your device speakers. This message informs emergency services that your Apple device detected a severe car crash and that you’re unresponsive. It also shares your estimated latitude and longitude coordinates with a search radius."

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT213225
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Think|Different Avatar
40 months ago
Anything for the views. All this is, nothing more, nothing less.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
laptech Avatar
40 months ago
So is this where we going to read reports of iphone 14 owners crashing their vechicles on purpose to see if the crash detection works. 'Sorry officer, I was testing a feature of my new iphone 14'

Edit: Also, if the crash detection is enabled and the owner crashes and is unable to talk, when the SOS feature dials the emergency services how is the call handler going to know it was the iphones SOS function that called them? because if the call handler does not get a response after a few seconds surely the call handler would hang up siting the call to be a hoax/troll call.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
exoticSpice Avatar
40 months ago

I thought new cars have that built in anyway? I do not see how that is "revolutionary"
not every one has new cars..
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
laptech Avatar
40 months ago
Could you just imagine youtuber iJustine (Apple influencer) crashing her car to test the feature just for youtube views.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)