Nearly two years after Paul Walker’s untimely death in a road accident on November 30, 2013, his daughter, 16-year-old Meadow Walker, has filed a suit against Porsche for the wrongful death of her father.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the lawsuit accused Stuttgart of cutting corners on safety in the pursuit of cutting weight on the 605 hp V10 hypercar. These included the fitment of weaker side impact bars in the doors, as well as the usage of a fuel hose that did not come with fittings that would enable it to break free in a crash – instead, it tore open and helped instigate a fire.
Lawyers also claimed that the seat belts were fitted in such a way that when the Carrera GT in which Paul was riding in alongside race driver Roger Rodas snapped and broke apart in the crash, the shoulder belt was pulled along the rear compartment and “snapped Walker’s torso back with thousands of pounds of force, thereby breaking his ribs and pelvis, flattening his seat and trapping him in a supine position.”
Other details included the allegation that the fire only broke out after one minute 20 seconds after impact, but the Fast & Furious star was stranded, and was still alive when the car did eventually ignite. “Paul Walker breathed soot into his trachea while the Porsche Carrera GT burned,” the suit stated.
Another point of contention was the speed at which Rodas lost control – the lawsuit claimed the Carrera GT was only travelling at between 100-115 km/h before it careened into a light pole, significantly slower than the 130-150 km/h reported by investigators.
It added that Porsche deliberately declined to install the Porsche Stability Management (PSM) system – standard on the company’s other cars at the time – despite acknowledging “a history of instability and control issues” with the Carrera GT.
“The vehicle lacked safety features that are found on well-designed racing cars or even Porsche’s least expensive road cars — features that could have prevented the accident or, at a minimum, allowed Paul Walker to survive the crash,” the lawsuit said. “The bottom line is that the Porsche Carrera GT is a dangerous car. It doesn’t belong on the street.”
The incident happened during a break in filming for Furious 7, after Walker was attending a charity event for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in Los Angeles. The film, in which he made his last box office appearance, was released posthumously on April 3, 2015.
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Porsche is owned by volkswagen. So no wonder lah. Business ethics nowdays. Cheating to gain profit. Money comes 1st. Safety, emissions etc come last….Shame on you!
I think many people can sue Proton, Perodua, Toyota and Honda which have involved in many dreadful accidents.
Proton don’t use takata airbags. New cars got VSC summore.
Where is the ABS for my Saga Plus?
Did you ask before you buy?
you mean its the manufacturer fault if the person died in 110km/h accident
You are some others here need to study yr facts first. CGT was not developed under VW ownership at the time. Nuff said.
Porsche wasn’t owned by VW at the time of the development of the CGT
The tge owner of carrera gt….jgn kerek la…
Porsche please pay for your responsibility! VW! & you should too!
Read vw scandal article before commenting. They have admitted the mistake and taking full responsibility to cooperate with US gov.
With all due respect to Paul, people should stop blaming others for their own fault. Everybody knows anyone that steps into a supercar will speed and drive way above the legal limit, recklessly most of the time. Blaming the car or others is just way too much. Guess that is american, suing is part of their culture.
i want to sue to authority… the road is not ruler straight or 100% flat.
maybe, sue them for planting tress along the stretch.
hahaha
suing through legal court is the most civilize way of doing things
unlike blowing up stuff
At the end of the day, we all just want someone to point the finger to.
If you broke your jaw for a dive onto the tarmac from your bike after hitting big pot-hole, go sue the govt (JKR). You’ll be winning some money on top of your insurance claim! we’ve won cases.
Please read the article. No one is blaming Porsche for reckless driving. The lawyers are blaming the lack of standard features, and the fact that the seat belt, impact bars, fuel hose did not adequately protect the occupant in an event of a crash. Those things are suppose to do their job in the accident which they failed.
one BIG company, 2 BIG problem
the legal speed limit of the crash area was 72 kmh (45mph) , any sane judge would throw this case out of the door , but then , this is america we’re talking about , and VW-owned porsche might have a fight on their hands…
non related, but of all the photos that are available on the internet, why did the author of this article chose the one that were CG-ed, i can’t brain this
Please do some homework.. The potrait picture of Paul Walker in this article is real screenshot from the original The Fast and The Furious movie (Dom & Brian last race)..
well, everyone knows that it’s a screenshot from FF7, duhhh
but, isn’t paul walker’s face (in the previous photo-in this article)CG-ed ?
ignorance level – Salleh said
Macam-macam ada, hahaha
So… The fact that it was his/the driver’s own mistake which led to the accident was somehow neglected by the daughter?
Americans.. *shrugs*
Thats not even him in the photo you are using. Thats a cgi. Of all the photos available of him…
Please do some homework.. The potrait picture of Paul Walker in this article is real screenshot from the original The Fast and The Furious movie (Dom & Brian last)..
Why so slowpoke? The original article had the CGI Paul walker. PT just changed it to the first F&F recently.
Please do your homework. They updated the photo probably after reading feedback.
Americans….
I think she’s doing the right thing, Porsche should open their eyes on safety not just for speed..kudos
100-115km/h. That’s a max figure on our road. Extra 5km/h t.b.h. And people still die. EVERY SINGLE DAY if you ask me.
If you CHOOSE to sit next to a daredevil driver,YOU cannot control the speed.
You can only control the speed if you are the driver.
If you want to sue,sue the bladdy driver.
Anyway,anyone sitting in a porshe knows he or she is in for a very FAST and sometimes fatal ride.
Correct me if i’m wrong, but I thought the American authorities (or was it the local Police) had investigated and found no wrong-doing on the part of Porsche.
they can be bribe
if this can happen, the I urge all proton owners that suffered from car accidents to sue kaw-kaw Proton….
Why dragged in Proton here? Myvi vios can fly you dun comment pulak. Topkek
the next of kin of victims who died in myvi & alza can also go sue perodua.
Dont buy porshe. Buy proton
Dont buy banglo, buy ppr.
…It doesn’t belong on the street.” Agreed. Hope this will put some cap on car makers’ craze of coming out with so called ‘road legal’ hard core performance versions. I bet >90% owners can’t control the full accl. on normal road. Imagine, just in 3 sec things are coming fast at you and road becomes very small.
I think she got it correct. These cars were not road fit. Probably meant more for circuit. Question was why was it being raced on road, putting innocent lives in danger? I think his dad and buddy are equally responsible for their death.
Yep, they were racing
Hehe….u changed d photo
I tot his dad friend was street racing?
Nope, he just a passenger during his death
As long as the car was roadworthy according to the laws of the country she has no case at all. If her law suit succeeds it will have hilarious results. People will sue car manufacturers for not having enough airbags, no electronic stability control, no auto braking, etc.
American will always been American who twist and turn the law whenever they are to maximize their personal gain. Look at the car which was smash into the tree and burn over the car. The accident is cleaning happen through excessive speed and reckless driving behaviour. If this could be charged then there may have no one will sell car in America as any accident can turn out to be automaker fault no matter what the real root cause is.
This is absolutely hilarious action.
“the lawsuit claimed the Carrera GT was only travelling at between 100-115 km/h before it careened into a light pole, significantly slower than the 130-150 km/h reported by investigators.” He was going 130-150 km/h! Forensic methods are used in US vehicular accident investigations and the claim in the lawsuit is trying to shift blame from the speeding driver (committing a crime) to the manufacturer. Typical US legal move.