During the Bonnaroo music festival in Coffee County, Tennessee, a significant increase in 911 calls was observed. This was due to numerous iPhones misinterpreting the vigorous movements of dancing as car accidents. The iPhones, specifically the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, and the latest Apple watches, have a feature called Crash Detection, which was introduced last year. This feature is designed to alert emergency services if it detects sudden, forceful movements, such as those that might occur during a car crash or mountain bike accident.
However, the feature was inadvertently triggered by the energetic dancing at the Bonnaroo festival. If the user doesn’t respond to an Emergency Call prompt on the screen within 20 seconds, which can be challenging to notice during a lively concert, the device automatically contacts emergency services and shares live location data. This unintended consequence of the feature led to a flood of false 911 calls, causing confusion for first responders.
In response to the surge in calls, local authorities sent alerts to users in the area, urging them to disable the Crash Detection feature on their devices. Scott LeDuc, the director of Coffee County 911 Communication Center, reported that this action reduced the number of calls by 40 to 60 percent. Despite the influx of false alarms, LeDuc praised the response of their employees, emphasizing that first responders always rise to the occasion when duty calls. He also noted the importance of the feature, as it could potentially save lives, despite the confusion caused at the festival.
