Runaway Prius Nearly Kills Boy

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Chandler, Arizona, NBC affiliate Channel 12 has the harrowing story of a runaway Toyota that nearly killed a boy.

Driver Chuck Schmeiser pulled his 2008 Prius into a grassy parking lot. A boy helped the driver ease up the car to a berm and park the Prius. Then, says Schmeiser, “The car just accelerated, went over the berm, and at that time we did hit that young man.”

Luckily, the boy fell to the left and was unharmed. “We hit that boy, and if that boy hadn’t gone off to the left of our car, if he had fallen in front of our car, we very well could have killed him,” Schmeiser said.

Chuck says jamming on the brake did nothing, but he finally managed to stop the car. How, wasn’t explained. The video shows the front wheels of the car just on the other side of the berm, about two feet from where it was supposed to stop.

The Prius was towed to the local dealer. A Toyota tech inspected the Prius and declared driver error.

The dealer bought back the car. The boy assumed his parking direction duties the same day the harrowing incident occurred.

And the driver? Watch the video. You’ll notice he belongs to a certain demographic.

The commentators at the Channel 12 website are a bit rough on the man. The comments range from “Is this fool living in a cave or under a rock?” to plain “Idiot.”


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Da Coyote Da Coyote on Apr 08, 2010

    Hmmm, could be one of three things: pilot error, pilot error, or as a last choice - pilot error.

  • CatFan78 CatFan78 on Apr 08, 2010

    Just read a story of an SUV crashing through a Kroger store somewhere in KY. Guess what vehicle it was ? Toyota - nope it was a GM Escalade Want to guess who was driving? a 76 year old lady. Funny though - I haven't seen this story about the GM get the same level of media coverage as the Toyota stories. Hmmmmmmmmm.......

    • See 2 previous
    • Dynamic88 Dynamic88 on Apr 09, 2010

      @bertelschmitt I don't really car about the story ratios, my point is simply that Toyota is having many times more complaints than other manufacturers. As you say, the complaints can be filed anonymously, but do you figure there are some weird Toyota haters out there filing reports just to make Toyota look bad? I guess that could be true - there are some people with too much time on their hands. (Maybe Buickman is trying to kill off the competition? -Just kidding Buickman, I know you wouldn't do that) It seems odd that no one is picking on Honda by filing false reports. I don't think the complaints are as irrelevant as you seem to think. My guess (and I have to admit it's only a guess) is that complaints are mostly filed by people who have experienced SUA - or think they have. If that much is true, then we still have wildly differential rates. It would be good if VINs were required.

  • JohnAZ JohnAZ on Apr 09, 2010

    I think I know why so many Toyotas are reported with SUA compared to other brands, even though all crashes are caused by operator error. More of the senile or foolish people in America are buying Toyotas believing that they are helping the American economy get back on it's feet.

  • VanillaDude VanillaDude on Apr 09, 2010

    You guys don't get it. It was perception that gave Toyota it's edge, and it is this kind of perception that will hurt it. Every one of these stories can be laughed at, and you can mock the driver as a senile idiot or worse, but it doesn't fix the fact that these stories are out there. This effects a brand's image. The story didn't turn the driver into a laughingstock. The dealer handled it well, as did Toyota. So it is another bad story for Toyota. Go ahead and laugh, but I am certain Toyota isn't finding this funny.

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