California Couple Survives Car Crash, Saved by iPhone 14 Feature After Detecting the Fall

By BERT HOOVER Dec 19 2022, 02:50 AM EST

The California couple, Cloe Fields and Christian Zelada, were driving through the Angeles National Forest on Tuesday, as they regularly did, when they met an accident that sent their car over the edge of the cliff and plunged 300 feet, and landed upside down below the canyon.

Fields, 23 years old, told Insider that the San Gabriel Mountains to the northeast of Los Angeles are "our backyard" via the Angeles Crest Highway.

Going up there in the car is one of their favorite things to do, and it is especially beautiful after the rain, said Fields.

However, somewhere around the midway point, the pair was being tailgated and honked at by a car trying to pass them on the scenic, twisting roads, often used as a backdrop for automobile commercials.

When they stopped to let the driver pass, the automobile spun out of control and plunged over the side of the cliff.

Fields stated, "The next thing we know, we were falling," She recalled calling out her boyfriend's name as they neared the edge, claiming that her head could not still process what happened.

While Fields said she was in shock following the car crash, her boyfriend, Zelda, 24, insisted that they were okay until around halfway down.

"This is it. This is how it's going to end," Zelada thought.

Despite this, they amazingly survived the car crash at the bottom of Monkey Canyon with the roof upside down.

California Couple's iPhone 14 Detects the Fall, Makes SOS Call Via Satellite

The drop into Monkey Canyon was so great that their automobile flipped over and ended on its roof. After exiting the car, Fields said they looked at and checked each other, and they had some scratches.

She said that her initial reaction was to find her phone, according to PEOPLE.

Fields found her iPhone 14 about 10 feet from the wreck, which had already activated its new technology, and automatically detected the car crash and made an SOS call via satellite to an Apple emergency relay center.

The feature alerted the officials about the accident and its location despite the steep canyon's lack of cell service.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officers rescued Fields and Zelada in under 30 minutes.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) high-risk rescue crews used a helicopter to reach the crash site in the canyon.

Tactical medics went down from the helicopter and pulled the two hostages to safety by a rope.

California Couple Comes Home Safe

The new feature went out in the middle of November, but Fields had no idea she already had it installed on her brand-new iPhone.

According to Yahoo, it is now available in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom for iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro devices running iOS 16.1 or later.

The emergency SOS call via satellite makes it possible to send the user's location to their family and friends to let them check on the user while traveling.

Apple claims that it is free for two years following the initial activation of an iPhone 14.

"If we didn't find my phone or no one knew we were down there, it could've been a lot worse," Fields said.

When the emergency service center called for help, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, patrol units, and air rescue all responded, according to a statement by LASD Sergeant John Gilbert.

Fields claimed that even when the firefighters arrived, she was still scared and hyperventilating and that one of them tried to reassure her by telling her, "Smile, you're alive."

After being evaluated at the hospital, the couple and their dog were able to return home by that evening.

The California couple was experiencing some head and neck pain, while Zelada alone may have suffered a concussion.

However, Fields said she was thankful they had survived the car crash and were largely unharmed.

Fields admits it would take some time for her to understand what happened entirely. She has taken away the lesson that "life goes on" from her near-death experience.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Watch: Two Rescued After Vehicle Drops 250 Feet Off Road In Angeles National Forest - From NBC News