Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images; David McNew/Getty Images
- Cloe Fields and Christian Zelada’s car came off the road and plunged 300 feet into a canyon.
- Fields’ iPhone 14 automatically notified emergency services about the accident, local law enforcement said.
- Crash-detection is a new feature on the iPhone 14 and some Apple Watch models.
The new iPhone crash-detection feature aided a California couple’s rescue by automatically contacting emergency services after their car plunged down a canyon in Los Angeles County.
Cloe Fields and Christian Zelada told The Washington Post that during a trip in mid-December, their Hyundai slipped on gravel at the edge of a road in Angeles National Forest and fell 300 feet down a canyon.
Fields and Zelada told The Post they climbed out the passenger door to find they had no cellphone service. However, when Zelada found Fields’ smashed but still-functioning iPhone 14 near the crash site, he discovered it had already sent an emergency message to the authorities, per The Post.
—clö (@cloeleahfields) December 16, 2022
Apple introduced the crash-detection feature to the iPhone 14 and some Apple Watch models. If owners don’t respond to an on-screen crash alert within 20 seconds, the device automatically messages the emergency services.
Montrose Search and Rescue said that the Crescenta Valley Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department received a call from Apple’s emergency satellite service at 1:55 p.m. on the day of Fields and Zelada’s accident. The couple were then able to provide further information about the accident by communicating by text via a relay center, ultimately leading to a helicopter dispatch, Montrose Search and Rescue said.
—SEB (@SEBLASD) December 14, 2022
Fields said on Twitter that she was “thankful to still be here,” adding: “Thank god for my phone obsession.”
