Rollercoaster rides trigger emergency calls from new iPhones

Rollercoasters have triggered some new iPhones to make emergency calls.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), at one US amusement park the plummeting rides activated the phones’ crash detection system.

The feature was introduced in the new iPhone 14 and Apple Watch Series 8, Ultra and SE with the latest OS.

Apple told the newspaper the technology is intended to provide “peace of mind” and will continue to improve over time.

Although a new feature on the iPhone, the crash detection system recently demonstrated its utility alerting emergency services to a fatal accident in Nebraska.

Google’s Pixel phone already has a crash detection system.

However, the newspaper was provided with records of six calls to local emergency services from iPhones whose crash detection system had been triggered while on rides at Kings Island amusement park outside Cincinnati, Ohio.

In a recording of one of the calls obtained by the newspaper, an automated message from an iPhone can be heard saying: “The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone”. The sound of the amusement park is audible in the background.