Google values its smartphones in software, not hardware, through special features. One of the most interesting features of Pixel phones is Car Crash Detection and, for one man, the feature saved him from being trapped in heavy machines for hours.
A Reddit user (u / postnospam) by the name of Chuck Walker posted about his experience with Car Crash Detection on his Pixel smartphone, but it wasn’t really a car accident. Instead, Walker had an accident in late November on his Missouri property with a Bobcat loader. The heavy machinery rolled off a ledge and fell into a small ravine, falling upside down (photo below) with Walker trapped and injured inside Bobcat, the emergency exit blocked and the main exit partially blocked as well. He reports that he had seven broken ribs and four broken thoracic vertebrae (center of the spine).
Fortunately, his Pixel 4 XL came to the rescue with car accident detection. Even though the phone was thrown out of reach during the accident, the event was sufficient to trigger the car accident detection and, as the user was unconscious after the fall, the phone contacted 911. When the user woke up , shouted for help, to hear through the Bluetooth headset that an emergency dispatcher was connected and talking to him. This dispatcher had already sent rescue services to his location and, minutes later, the first aid of the Southern Platte Fire Protection District was helping him out of the wreckage. Walker says that, as a former paramedic, he knew his injuries were not immediately fatal, but it took him weeks to recover from the broken bones.
If car accident detection had not been activated on the phone, Walker would be waiting for help for a while. He says the accident happened “in the depths” of his private property, and no one expected to see him “for hours”. When he may have been found, he says he may be suffering from hypothermia, but he is also concerned about the potential for fire due to the fuel leak.
Instead, his Pixel had emergency services at his location in minutes, doing most of the work while he was unconscious.
If you have a Pixel smartphone, you can activate this feature yourself. To do this, look for the “Security” application and, in the settings of that application, you will see an option for “Car accident detection”. It is disabled by default, but it is a feature that you must enable. Car crash detection was originally unique to Pixel 4, but has since expanded to Pixel 3 and is also compatible with Pixel 5, 4a and 4a 5G.
Note that car accident detection and the Pixel Safety app generally require multiple permissions, such as location and microphone. Walker says he doesn’t “like to give up privacy to technology”, but even though he never expected to need that feature, the “reward outweighed the downside”.
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