In November of 2013, actor Paul Walker, most famous for “The Young and the Restless,” and Roger Rodas, were killed in a car accident. The two were driving a Porsche Carrera GT at a speed that is still up for debate. The widow of Roger, Kristine Rodas, is suing Porsche because she has reason to believe that the car was traveling at a reasonable speed of 55mph and the car malfunctioned. Initial reports from crash investigators determined that the car was traveling at least 90mph.
Kristine Rodas specifically has issues with the lack of a proper crash cage and missing safety features in the gas tank. She also blames Porsche for creating a poor suspension system that caused the car to spin out of control. Porsche claims that their investigation has provided them with enough proof to say that the driver was negligent and was driving too fast. They also claimed that the model has no issues with any of its parts.
It seems that Kristine Rodas is off base and is still grieving her husband’s death. It is likely that she won’t win this case as the investigation has already proven that reckless driving had to have been occurring.
Source:
Autonews.com
I think suing Porsche is not the greatest idea. I feel sorry for the families loss but accusing the automaker for its lack of crash cage, unsafe gas tank is stupid, especially when the company points out the car was driving at a high speed. An owner that is going to be driving at unsafe speeds should add the features lacking in the first place, like that Porsche’s outdated tires. At least two of the wires were nine years old while the company recommend tires to be changed every four years. Drivers die in illegal car race very often, calling out a car company for the driver’s negligence is just blind rage.
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I wonder if it is worth considering Professor Heitmann’s chapter in Stealing Cars when he references cases in which media influences people’s actions when it comes to cars. Paul Walker was the star of a movie series, The Fast & The Furious, which centered around heists, crime and most of all reckless, high speed driving.
Although I am not saying that Rodas is correct in suing Porsche I think its interesting to note that in 2006 Porsche payed a large settlement after a Carrera GT struck another vehicle on a track. As this article points out, Rodas’ lawsuit could use this ruling, as well as some previous other crashes to show that Porsche potentially held some of the fault.
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/05/13/rodas-widow-suing-porsche-carrera-gt-crash-paul-walker-report/
Although I am very sympathetic to the families of both Paul Walker and Roger Rodas, I do not think that legal action is best means to mend the situation. This case seems very much like those that doctors face almost daily; a family tragically loses a loved one and seeks a reason for their passing, they then attribute the blame to a car company/doctor/insert here and go to court in search of financial gains. I think that the legal system today leans too much in favor of people like Mr. Rodas’ wife allowing emotions to sway juries and overcome concrete facts. I hope that the lawsuit is dropped and the families are allowed to properly grieve and come to terms with the loss of their loved ones.
I don’t know the legal issues – we should reach out to our Detroit alumni for that! – but many of the deaths connected with the malfunctioning ignition in older GM vehicles were cases where the driver was highly intoxicated and/or driving at high speed and/or without seatbelts. My sense is that if a jury finds the carmaker liable, then gross negligence … well, the jury wasn’t convinced so it wasn’t gross negligence, however much it may seem that to us.