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Increase in false reports of “injury” at US ski resorts… Is the iPhone the culprit?

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With skiers crowded at ski resorts in the US in the winter, 911 call centers are suffering from false reports. The culprit is none other than the iPhone or Apple Watch.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the problems of the ‘collision detection function’ introduced in Apple devices through an article titled ‘My Watch Thinks I’m Dead’ on the 3rd.

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Trina Dummer, who works at the 911 call center in Summit County, Colorado, said in an interview with the NYT, “185 calls were received during the week from January 13 to 22, more than double the number of last year.”

He emphasized, “If an emergency situation actually occurs, if limited manpower and resources are forced to be mobilized, it will be a great threat to actual accident damage.”

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Local Sheriff Mark Watson also told the New York Times that Apple’s crash detection feature made it “difficult to work normally.”

There have been several reports of this problem not only in Colorado, but also in ski resorts in Utah, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Collision detection is a feature that Apple introduced to the iPhone 14 series and Apple Watch 8 series. If your iPhone or Apple Watch detects a collision, it displays a warning on the screen for 10 seconds. The user must respond to the warning alarm appearing twice for 10 seconds each.

If the user doesn’t respond to the alert, the phone sends a voice message to 911 saying “The user of this device has been involved in a serious crash” and provides GPS (location information system) information. In addition, if there is an emergency contact designated by the user, a text message is sent there.

According to the New York Times, as software upgrades were made to Apple devices in September of last year, the function to automatically detect emergency situations such as a car accident or a user falling has become more sensitive. As a result, even though skiers are skiing safely and without accidents, the Apple device recognizes an emergency situation and sends a rescue signal even in the slightest collision.

It is very useful when an actual accident occurs, but the history of false reporting is gradually increasing, raising questions about reliability. Apple upgraded the software in December last year to solve the problem, but it is known that the false call problem has not been completely resolved.

Last year, at an amusement park in Chicago, USA, a user’s iPhone 14 riding a roller coaster detected a collision and reported it to 911. Since then, the amusement park has put up a sign to disable this function before riding the rides.

Source: Donga

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