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Paul Walker's daughter sues Porsche, blaming carmakers for his death

Did design defects in the Porsche he was in contribute to Paul Walker's death?

That's what 16-year-old Meadow (below), the daughter of Hollywood actor Paul Walker, is alleging in a wrongful death lawsuit she's bringing against the car maker Porsche AG. 

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/ MEADOW WALKER

The 2013 crash claimed the lives of Walker and his friend Roger Rodas, who was driving the car. 

In the suit, Meadow's lawyers claim that defects in the Porsche Carrera GT contributed to the car crash, and also trapped Walker in the passenger seat, alive, before he died from being burned alive. 

In March 2014, California officials concluded the cause of the crash was speeding, reported The Guardian. 

NOT SPEEDING?

Meadow's suit alleges that Rodas had not been speeding. It claims that the car careened out of control even while travelling at a moderate speed. 

According to the suit, the car would not have careened if it had a proper stabilisation system installed. 

When the car crashed, the seat belt in the car "snapped Walker's torso back with thousands of pounds of force, thereby breaking his ribs and pelvis" and trapping him in the passenger seat, according to the suit.

Meadow's lawyers have claimed that according to forensic reports, The Fast And The Furious star was burned alive in the accident due to the presence of soot in his trachea.

If he had died on impact, there would not have been any soot in him as the presence of soot suggests that he was still breathing when the fire broke out, according to a New York Daily News report from 2014.

The suit claims that since the fire did not erupt for 1 minutes and 20 seconds after the impact, Walker could have saved himself if he wasn't trapped.

OTHER DEFECTS

BBC News reported that Meadow's lawyers accused Porsche of intentionally not installing the stabilisation system in the Carrera GT, even though it was the standard to install this in many other models of Porsche cars. 

The stabilisation system nips in the bud the vehicle’s tendency to lean when cornering by enhancing brake control, thus reducing greatly the chances of the car careening out of control, according to the Porsche website.  

The lawyers also claimed that Walker's Porsche had deficient side door reinforcements and fuel lines which did not protect the car from bursting into flames as they otherwise should have if they were properly made.

Last year, Rodas' widow had filed a similar wrongful lawsuit against Porsche but the German car company had responded by claiming Rodas' speeding was the sole cause of the crash.

One of Meadow's lawyers, Jell Milam, told TMZ: "The bottom line is that the Porsche Carrera GT is a dangerous car. It doesn't belong on the street.

"And we shouldn't be without Paul Walker or his friend, Roger Rodas." 

An old picture of the late Paul Walker (right) and his daughter, Meadow. PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/ MEADOW WALKER

Sources: TMZ, BBC News, Entertainment Weekly

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