It’s been almost two years since the untimely death of beloved actor Paul Walker in a car accident. Walker left behind a daughter who is now suing Porsche. She claims that design defects were to blame for her father’s death.
Walker was killed in a fiery car crash, and his daughter, Meadow, contends that the car her father was driving at the time did not have proper safety features that are available on other models. She believes that these missing safety features could have allowed her father to live or maybe even avoid the accident all together.
According to the Washington Post, the lawsuit states that the Porsche Carrera GT that Walker died in did not have an electronic stability control system, a safety measure that affords drivers more control in extreme conditions. The suit also says that the car’s reinforcement bars in the doors were not adequate. Other defects, including faulty seat belts and fuel lines, were also listed.
The seat belt system was designed so that in a crash, the seat belt anchor would stay attached while the shoulder belt anchor would be pulled backwards.
The suit claims that the poor seat belt design was the most to blame for Walker’s death as it “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, where he remained alive until the vehicle erupted into flames one minute and 20 seconds later.”
According to the lawsuit, had the seat belt design been better, Walker may have been able to get free of the crash before the fire started.