The Wall Street Journal recently detailed their experience with the Crash Detection Feature on a YouTube video, which caught the attention of Apple.
The video had two WSJ employees testing out Crash Detection in a junkyard using the latest Apple Watch and iPhone. However, the results were not as consistent as hoped, with only a few that were detected by the devices. Apple interceded and said that there weren’t enough ‘signals’ to trigger Crash Detection every time.
An Apple spokesman answered queries of the results, saying how there should be a CarPlay or Bluetooth connection and that the vehicle must have traveled a certain distance to indicate that the user was driving. The spokesperson further said that if the iPhone had all those extra indicators, including a GPS confirmation that the car was on the road then it may have had a higher number of registered crashes.
Crash Detection feature is auto-turned on for the Apple Watch Ultra, Series 8 and second generation SE, as well as the iPhone 14 lineup.