Paul Walker’s death blamed on ‘defects’ as movie star’s daughter sues Porsche

TWO years after Fast & Furious star Paul Walker died in a car crash, his 16-year-old daughter has blamed car defects that ‘trapped’ him fireball.

PAUL Walker‘s daughter is suing Porsche for wrongful death, claiming the sports car her movie star father was in when he was killed suffered from numerous design defects.

The lawsuit filed by Meadow Rain Walker, 16 — the late actor’s sole heir — seeks unspecified damages for defects that her lawyers claim kept the actor trapped in the Porsche Carrera GT when it crashed and burst into flames in November 2013.

Walker was on a break from filming the seventh film in the Fast & Furious franchise when he was killed. He was riding in the Carrera GT driven by friend and business associate Roger Rodas when the car spun out of control, struck three trees and burst into flames on a street in Santa Clarita, California.

The wrongful-death suit claims the car, which was marketed as a street-legal race car, lacked a proper stability control system and safeguards to protect occupants and keep it from catching fire after a collision.

“Absent these defects in the Porsche Carrera GT, Paul Walker would be alive today,” the lawsuit states.

An email sent to representatives of Porsche Cars North America was not immediately returned.

The 18-page lawsuit includes a detailed recounting of the crash and contends that the Porsche was travelling 101 to 114 kmh when it spun out of control.

Investigators concluded the Porsche was going much faster — up to 151 kmh — when it crashed.

WIRE: Sheriff's deputies work near the wreckage of a Porsche that crashed into a light pole on Hercules Street near Kelly Johnson Parkway in Valencia, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013. A publicist for actor Paul Walker says the star of the "Fast & Furious" movie series died in the crash north of Los Angeles. He was 40. Ame Van Iden says Walker died Saturday afternoon. No further details were released. (AP Photo/The Santa Clarita Valley Signal, Dan Watson)

The investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol concluded that it was unsafe speed and not mechanical problems that caused the crash. That investigation was aided by engineers from Porsche, who evaluated the wreckage of the rare car.

Meadow Walker’s lawsuit contends Porsche didn’t include a stability control system in the Carrera GT model Rodas was driving but includes it in other models. It also claims the car lacked proper reinforcements in its doors and used rubber fuel lines that didn’t break free to prevent a fire in a crash.

Similar allegations of design and safety defects were included in a wrongful-death lawsuit by Rodas’ widow, Kristine Rodas, that remains pending in a federal court in Los Angeles. Rodas was trained as a race car driver and was only driving 89 kmh, according to his wife’s lawsuit. He left behind two young children when he died.

Walker, the star of the Fast & Furious film franchise, co-owned an auto racing team with Rodas named Always Evolving.

Walker’s two brothers helped complete action scenes in Furious 7, which earned more than $1.5 billion globally after it was released in April.

Originally published as Paul Walker’s death blamed on ‘defects’ as movie star’s daughter sues Porsche