iPhone 14 Crash Detection triggered by rollercoaster rides; calls emergency services

The Apple iPhone 14's Crash Detection feature is generating issues for a theme park close to Cincinnati, as repeated false positives from iPhones on rides result in numerous calls to emergency services.

According to AppleInsider, the feature uses onboard sensors and mountains of crash data to detect whether or not it is involved in a car accident. Despite the training of the system, it seems that rollercoasters could be its weakness.

The Warren County Communications Center has received multiple iPhone crash-detection calls, all since the iPhone 14 went on sale in September.

According to the center, a number of them were caused by passengers on rollercoasters at the King Island amusement park near Cincinnati, the report said.

Multiple recordings of iPhone-based detection calls were provided to the Wall Street Journal by the center, prompted by the devices misinterpreting ride movements and noise as collisions.

The theme park isn't the only one with the problem, as alerts were raised a few times at Six Flags Great America near Chicago.

While the iPhone and Apple Watch do offer a ten-second warning before placing a call to emergency services, this may not be cancellable in time.

The park visitor may not notice if the ride is still in motion, or the iPhone could be stowed away out of view for safety and not heard over screams.

An Apple spokesperson told the report the technology provides peace of mind, and work will continue to improve it.