Representational image (car crash)
Representational image (Source: Pixabay / Rico_Loeb) IBTimes US

An Indian entrepreneur took to X to share a life-saving experience he had during a recent car crash, thanks to his Apple Watch.

Kuldeep Dhankar, founder of Last9.io, was caught in a traffic standstill on a U.S. highway when his car got rear-ended by an oncoming vehicle. Dhankar revealed that his Apple Watch was quick to sense the potential harm and automatically dialed 911, saving his life.

Dhankar said that an officer immediately arrived at the scene, and he was provided medical attention. He was able to continue his journey safely after that. A picture accompanying the post showed a California Highway Patrol cop inspecting the accident scene with Dhankar's car badly mangled from the front.

"Got rear ended by a car while we were at standstill in traffic, on the I-5 yesterday. the car behind was probably a total loss. (we are perfectly safe). Apple watch detected that we were in a crash and auto called 911 and there was an officer on the scene with in minutes. we were able to leave in 30 minutes and got to our destination safe. so impressed by Apple watch and california highway patrol. Also thankful. very thankful," Dhankar wrote on X.

Several X users left their concerned comments on the post. "Glad you are safe! Apple Watch did its job well." Another user wrote, "Damn, that sounds horrible. Glad you are okay."

The Apple Watch comes with a built-in crash detection feature, which enables it to alert emergency services in the event of a life-threatening crash and also notify your emergency contacts. With advanced sensors and algorithms, the device can sense a severe crash in no time and alert the emergency services within 20 seconds, providing an audio message that details the exact crash location.

To call emergency services, your Apple Watch or nearby iPhone must have a cellular connection or have Wi-Fi calling enabled with Wi-Fi coverage available.

If cellular and Wi-Fi coverage are unavailable, and your iPhone 14 or a newer model is near your Apple Watch, Crash Detection notifications to emergency services can be communicated via the Emergency SOS satellite system, where available.

Crash Detection is always on by default. To disable alerts and automatic emergency calls from Apple after a severe crash, go to Settings > SOS > Crash Detection, then toggle off "Call After Severe Crash."