The Fire and Disaster Management Department of Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has urged users to be mindful of accident detection features on smartphones and other devices, as attempts to call for automated help in times of need have increased.

Emergency calls increased

Five municipal Fire Brigades in Nagano Prefecture, Japan received 919 emergency calls between January 16 and January 23, Yomiuri Shimbun reported. It was reported that 134 of these were false calls and most of them were caused by the accident detection system in the ski area. Likewise, the Gujo City Fire Department in Gifu province received 351 emergency calls from January 1 to January 23. It was recorded that 135 of these calls were false alarms.

Faulty detection!

The accident detection system can see the person falling or crashing while skiing as the equivalent of an accident and triggers a countdown that results in the emergency services being called. Before the call, the person is warned, but may be in a position to not respond at that time.

False emergency calls should be reported

While it is possible to turn this feature off, according to one firefighter, it is wrong to ask someone to turn it off completely, as it is an effective feature in the event of a serious accident. An agency official also says that if the iPhone makes the wrong emergency call, he should report the error to the local fire department.