Skiers Accidentally Triggering iPhone's Crash Detection Feature

The Crash Detection feature built into the iPhone 14, ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro, and new Apple Watch models is causing skiers to accidentally dial emergency services, according to Utah news site KSL.

iphone 14 pro car crash detection
Designed to summon help when a car crash is detected, the Crash Detection feature can be activated at ski resorts, and Summit County dispatchers in Utah have seen an increase in 911 calls.

"We will get a call in that says the owner of this Apple Watch or iPhone has either had a severe crash or they've been involved in a car accident," Summit County Dispatch Center supervisor Suzie Butterfield told KSL.

With many of the activations, people don't respond at first because they are unaware that the call was placed. "They're usually like, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I was skiing. Everything's fine,'" said Butterfield.

Three to five emergency calls from Apple devices are coming in per day, and so far, none have been activated on purpose. Butterfield said that she doesn't mind the accidental calls because the feature could be useful in an actual emergency situation.

Reddit users have confirmed that skiing can trigger the Crash Detection feature, with one user explaining that he was going down a hill at a moderate pace when his Apple Watch started to dial 911.

You might want to turn off crash detection on your iPhone 14 if you ski with any kind of pace at all. I was out yesterday for the first time. I had my phone in my pocket and was cruising down Tinkerbell at a totally moderate pace doing some short-radius turns on my second run of the year. To give you an idea of how moderate, I had just passed a slow sign with 3 safety patrol by it and none of them even raised an eyebrow at me! I stopped to wait for my wife and my phone immediately started yelling "Have you been in an accident? We will call emergency services in 20 seconds! Woop! Woop!" I turned it off as quickly as possible and then immediately turned off all the emergency notification functions.

In addition to Crash Detection on the ‌iPhone 14‌ models, the Apple Watch Series 8, the new Apple Watch SE, and the Apple Watch Ultra, there's also a fall detection feature on a range of Apple devices that could potentially result in emergency calls as well.

Butterfield said that she does not recommend turning the ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch safety features off. "We don't mind taking that call because if something really did happen, we want to be able to get to you," she said.

The Crash Detection feature in the new ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch models has also been triggered by rollercoasters, and just today, Apple released an iOS 16.1.2 update that includes "Crash Detection optimizations." Apple has not provided information on what this means, but it likely is aimed at cutting down on accidental triggering where there has not been an actual car accident.

Thanks, justiny!

Popular Stories

election results 2024 live activities

Track 2024 U.S. Election Results Live on Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday November 5, 2024 5:02 am PST by
Apple News is providing Live Activities support for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, allowing iPhone and iPad users to track electoral results in real time directly from their Lock Screen. The feature is rolling out for U.S. users over the course of Election Day, November 5, providing continuous updates of the electoral count. So if you're interested, you don't need to repeatedly check...
ios 18 2 chatgpt plus

iOS 18.2 Beta 2 Shows Siri ChatGPT Limit, Offers 'Plus' Upgrade Option

Monday November 4, 2024 10:54 am PST by
With the second beta of iOS 18.2 that's available for developers today, Apple has further fleshed out the ChatGPT integration that's available with Siri. In the Settings app, there's now a section that shows the ChatGPT daily limit, and offers an option to upgrade to the paid ChatGPT Plus plan. The beta includes an Advanced Capabilities section with a "Daily Limit" reading that shows up as...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
iCloud General Feature

Here's What's New in Apple's Updated iCloud Terms and Conditions Taking Effect Next Week

Friday September 13, 2024 7:39 am PDT by
Apple has started notifying users about an upcoming revision to its iCloud Terms and Conditions, which takes effect on Monday, September 16. We compared the text of the upcoming iCloud Terms and Conditions with the current U.S. version from September 18, 2023 and identified four key changes: "Apple ID" references have been changed to "Apple Account" throughout. iCloud users must agree to ...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
ipads early bf deals

The Best Early Black Friday iPad Deals

Tuesday November 5, 2024 7:02 am PST by
Black Friday is still a few weeks away, but you can already find great prices on numerous iPads, including the 9th generation iPad, 10th generation iPad, iPad Air, and iPad mini. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Of course, there is a chance that ...
M4 M4 Pro vs M4 Max Feature

When to Expect New M4 MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro Models

Monday November 4, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Apple's fall 2024 Mac announcements have included new iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro models, all of which debuted with variants of Apple's M4 chip. Apple intends to update the rest of its Mac lineup with M4 series processors over the next 12 months, which will make it the first time that Apple has used the same chip generation across all of its Macs. This means we can expect new M4...

Top Rated Comments

mjs916 Avatar
25 months ago


Three to five emergency calls from Apple devices are coming in per day, and so far, none have been activated on purpose.

Don’t they mean, “on accident”?



Attachment Image
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TracesOfArsenic Avatar
25 months ago
Is it any surprise these aren't working properly? Timmy's Apple doesn't believe in testing, just gotta pump out those annual releases on the clock, baby!
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mjs916 Avatar
25 months ago

Is it any surprise these aren't working properly? Timmy's Apple doesn't believe in testing, just gotta pump out those annual releases on the clock, baby!
What do you mean? It’s being tested right now on millions of devices.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TimHalfCooked Avatar
25 months ago
Another true Apple innovation.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EmotionalSnow Avatar
25 months ago

Is it any surprise these aren't working properly? Timmy's Apple doesn't believe in testing, just gotta pump out those annual releases on the clock, baby!
Would you rather get a false alert in some situations than it not working when you actually have an accident? Just disable it whenever you are skiing or on a rollercoaster and enable it afterwards again ...

I mean, just read the article instead of bashing:

Butterfield said that she doesn't mind the accidental calls because the feature could be useful in an actual emergency situation.

Butterfield said that she does not recommend turning the iPhone and Apple Watch safety features off. "We don't mind taking that call because if something really did happen, we want to be able to get to you," she said.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TVreporter Avatar
25 months ago
Apple engineer: Works for surfing, probably just as good on a ski hill. Ship it!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)