The 2005 Porsche Porsche Carrera GT prior to the crash. Photo: Always Evolving
Nearly two years after the fiery crash in Santa Clarita, the daughter of the late Paul Walker is suing Porsche, claiming the car in which her father died lacked safety features needed for a racing car.
A complaint was filed Monday on behalf of Meadow Rain Walker, 16, alleging the car maker failed to install an electronic stability control system to protect the car from swerving and used “side door reinforcement bars that lacked adequate welds and consisted of material weaker in strength than what is used in popular mass-market cars, such as the Honda Civic, which is designed and built to be operated at speeds much slower than the Carrera GT,” according to the suit.
The seat belts were anchored “in such a way that when the car broke apart upon impact, the shoulder belt anchors traveled with the rear engine compartment while the seat belt anchors remained with the passenger compartment,” according to the complaint. “This snapped Walker’s torso back with thousands of pounds of force, thereby breaking his ribs, pelvis, flattening his seat and trapping him in a supine position, where he remained alive until the vehicle erupted into flames.”
The suit adds that the fire was allegedly caused by rubber fuel lines that lacked break-free fittings to automatically shut down fuel flow.
The wife of the driver of the car, Roger Rodas, previously sued Porsche, alleging the suspension on the car failed and caused the crash.
“The bottom line is that the Porsche Carrera GT is a dangerous car. It doesn’t belong on the street,” Walker’s attorney, Jeff Milam, said in a statement to CNN. “And we shouldn’t be without Paul Walker or his friend, Roger Rodas.”
Calvin Kim with Porsche Cars North America said the automaker hasn’t seen the lawsuit and wouldn’t comment on specifics, according to CNN.
“As we have said before, we are saddened whenever anyone is hurt in a Porsche vehicle, but we believe the authorities’ reports in this case clearly established that this tragic crash resulted from reckless driving and excessive speed,” Kim said, in an interview with CNN.
Paul Walker and Rodas were killed on Nov. 30, 2013, in a single-vehicle car collision in the Valencia industrial park.
“(Roger Rodas) was driving a red Porsche Carrera GT at an unsafe speed, approximately 100+ mph, in the No. 1 eastbound lane on Hercules Street, approaching Constitution,” according to the Coroner’s Office report.
Paul Walker – Roger Rodas
“For unknown reasons, the driver lost control of his vehicle, and the vehicle partially spun around, and began traveling in a southeast direction. The vehicle then struck a curb, and the driver’s side of the vehicle struck a tree and then a light post,” the report continued.
The force of the collision then spun the car around again, and the passenger’s side struck a tree and the vehicle burst into flames, according to notes from Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, who were the investigators first on the scene.
“Investigators determined the cause of the fatal solo-vehicle collision was unsafe speed for the roadway conditions,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Commander Mike Parker said in March 2014, according to CNN.
The posted speed limit on Kelly Johnson Parkway, where the crash occurred, was 45 mph.
The lawsuit alleges the Porsche was traveling between 63-71 mph before it “suddenly went out of control” and “that Paul Walker survived the physical forces of the collision and was alive” when the car became engulfed in flames.
An autopsy revealed “scant soot” in Walker’s trachea, suggesting his life ended before the smoke and fire engulfed the car, according to CNN. The actor’s body was badly burned “and in a pugilistic stance. His right wrist was fractured and his left arm was fractured,” the report said.
Rodas was also described as in “a pugilistic” — or defensive — position, according to CNN. Walker suffered fractures of his left jawbone, collarbone, pelvis, ribs and spine and Rodas “rapidly died of severe blunt head, neck and chest trauma,” the report said.
Walker was in Santa Clarita Valley for a toy drive to benefit his nonprofit and was the passenger in the Porsche Carrera GT that Rodas was driving.
Paul Walker is best known for playing Brian O’Connor in the “Fast and Furious” films. He had filmed part of “Furious Seven” before the collision. His brothers were used as body doubles and computer-generated images superimposed his face onto his brother’s for the character’s last scenes.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
19 Comments
Jeez seems like Volkswagen is gonna have another lawsuit. Seems dodgy to buy a vw in general now
Frivolous lawsuit. A so called “racing car” being driven like it was on city streets. What do you think would happen when it strikes an immovable object at a high rate of speed.
SMH
She dumb
Cause of the crash has already been determined and it had nothing to do with the functionality of the car, it was the driver’s decisions that caused the wreck.
Sue the estate of the guy driving the car not the car manufacturer
Car manufacturer has monkey but I think this is ridiculous. If I jumped out in front of a car not crossing legally and a driver can’t stop in time and I am killed, should my family sue the car manufacturer because they should have made better breaks that stop within a second…I don’t think so.
Wow.
Guess what? They were driving like asses and crashed.
In what universe is the car manufacturer at fault?
It was definitely sad but not Porsche’s fault.
It’s still so sad and I feel for all the families. Question. Wasn’t the vehicle modified from stock? I guess if the driver was traveling at the posted speed limit they may still be with us?
what was Lacked in the safety feature was the driver behind the wheel and the poor decision to race around public streets like it was a race track. roger rhoadas is responsible for this tragic event.
If like to thank Porsche.
The tiny tree didn’t even suffer a scratch but the car got destroyed :v
Tree was burnt and damaged.
Have you been there and seen it?
He hit a street light before he hit the tree…
This was much more the driver’s fault than that of the car. I’m not sure what the speed limit is on that stretch of street but having driven it, I can’t imagine it is over 60 MPH. The suit is just an example of more opportunism. It is very unlikely that this suit started with Walker’s 16-year-old daughter…she probably had an armada of hearse-chasing attorneys knocking on her door.
Maybe she should sue God for the air and rain that made that tree grow too.
Oh and skittles too!
Sue skittles!
I heard he had skittles that day too! ?
The VW Porsche folks will be lucky if they don’t file bankruptcy after the emissions award . They may do so and she may get nothing.
6 months after he died, they recalled these for catching fire, so she has something there. But will the emissions fine bankrupt the company before she gets an award?
Good luck w that.
Only because her crazy family squandered her inheritance.
It’s time to stop lawyers from filing lawsuits like this. Accept the fact that people must be held accountable for their actions and quit going after “deep pockets”