Apple this year introduced a lot of new security features like Emergency SOS via Satellite and also Crash Detection. However, even without these features available on her iPhone, a woman on Wednesday was rescued by firefighters from a car crash in California thanks to Apple’s Find My.
The news comes from the San Bernardino County Fire Department, which shared the report on its official Facebook page (via AppleInsider). According to SBCoFD, firefighters were dispatched to a reported traffic collision on Highway 18, north of 40th Street in the city of San Bernardino. There, they found a vehicle “over the side & well off the roadway.”
The SBCoFD says the victim likely spent the night in the crashed vehicle after leaving a family gathering. Since the woman was missing and no one could contact her, family members checked her location on Find My iPhone, which lets users share their current location with friends and family.
After seeing where she was, the family called 911, which quickly dispatched the fire department to that location shown on Apple’s Find My. Since the vehicle was about 200 meters from the highway and the victim had severe injuries, firefighters had to use specialized Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) equipment, “including a capstan raising system to safely haul the members up.”
The victim was then taken to a local trauma center and is now under care.
iPhone 14 and Crash Detection to the rescue
Earlier this month, two passengers in a car had their lives saved thanks to a combination of Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via Satellite features introduced with iPhone 14. The car crashed and fell 300 feet into a canyon in the Angeles National Forest.
Luckily, the iPhone detected the crash and immediately called the emergency services using the satellite connection. Despite moderate injuries, the victims of the car accident were rescued alive.
Both iPhone 14 and the latest Apple Watch models feature Crash Detection, which uses multiple sensors and machine learning to detect a car crash and call the emergency services automatically. On the iPhone 14, when there’s no cell signal available, the phone tries to call for help by using Emergency SOS via Satellite if the feature is available in that location.
These are certainly the kinds of features that one never wants to use, but it’s good to know that they work when needed.
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