William Gallagher
It had to happen. A YouTube channel has filmed a full-size but remote-controlled car repeatedly being crashed in order to see if iPhone 14 crash detection works.
Even Apple's own video about how crash detection works didn't actually damage any cars. But now the YouTube channel TechRax as done exactly that.
"Time to test out the iPhone 14 Pro's new crash detection feature," says the video's billing. "Does it actually work?"
The makers stress that the video "was filmed in a safe and controlled environment." It doesn't detail how it was done, but a regular car was outfitted with a rig that let it be driven remotely, and the YouTubers rammed it into a series of junkyard vehicles.
It works. There's a curious delay before the iPhone reacts during the first successful crash, but then it's repeatedly a race to turn off the call to emergency services in time.
Last year the iPhone 13 range was exposed to drop tests in YouTube videos. At least this time the iPhone 14 Pro used, came away entirely unscathed. The same can't be said for the car used for the crashes, so iPhone 14 Pro users should probably not try this in their own vehicles.
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25 Comments
I feel the 10 seconds delay is very short. Chances are I want to try to unbuckle my seatbelt or get out of the car or check other passengers first. And you wouldn’t want people just deactivating it quickly so that they can actually hear others, and then perhaps passing out.
I’d have thought that 15-30 seconds would have been better, with negligible difference to someone unconscious.
Essentially useless features as in modern cars (at least in the EU) it's been a legal requirement, that they call emergency services after the crash is detected. Together with the essentially useless satellite emergency call (at least outside US), this years iPhone introduction was quite useless.