Abogado Aly: What Caused the “Fast and Furious” Crash and Death of This Actor?

Thursday, September 22, 2016

What Caused the “Fast and Furious” Crash and Death of This Actor?

Originally published by William K. Berenson.

The race car movie star Paul Walker died in a fiery crash in 2013 that devastated his fans. His friend and business associate — also a race car driver and the owner of a Porsche dealership – was driving a 2005 Porche Carrera GT. Both men died.

The super car, which sold for $450,000 and was powered by a giant V-10, 610-hp engine, was reportedly being driven at a speed of 80 to 90 miles per hour on a suburban street outside of Los Angeles. The driver lost control, hit a curb, the car spun, hit a tree, and erupted into flames.

A lawsuit filed by representatives of Paul’s 15-year-old daughter settled for $10 million.

However a second lawsuit against Porsche claiming that the car was defective and failed to protect its occupants lost in court.

Speed is by far the leading reasons collisions happen here in Texas. We were just hired to represent the victim of one of those crashes today. Last year, over 100,000 so-called accidents were caused by drivers driving excessively fast and failing to control their speeds.

But in addition to the Porsche driver’s recklessness, what was the cause of that — and far too many other — crashes?

Aging Tires

The Porsche was a high performance car was designed to handle the road at high speeds with extraordinary precision. Its tires did not have many miles on them and appeared to be in top shape. Sadly, this was not the case.

Investigators have released a report showing that at least two of the tires were the originals and were more than nine years old. This clearly compromised their handling. The Carrera manual recommends that tires be changed every four years, regardless of miles driven.

Most manufacturers recommend you buy new tires after six or seven years. Some still recommend 10 years, but that is way too long since the rubber will have lost its elasticity, especially in our heat.

We take tires for granted but their failures cause your car or truck to become uncontrollable especially at high rates of speed, like on interstates. Unfortunately tragic results like this crash sometimes happen. A vehicle that suffers a detread or blowout will roll over or veer into oncoming traffic or leave the road, causing serious injury or even death. Each year, over 11,000 people are hurt and over 400 die in the U.S. as a result of this easily detectable problem.

Inspect your tires at least once a year. and don’t forget to replace the spare tire, even if it has never driven on the road.

How do you know how old your tires even are? This is a problem if you bought the car or truck used. This Consumer Reports video shows how to date tires.

Also, technology allows you to add an alert to your calendar years in advance. This is a good backup so you remember to schedule your next tire shopping date well in advance.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a car accident in Fort Worth, Dallas, or any where in Texas, please give me a call at 1-800-801-8585 or locally at 817-885-8000.

Paul Walker’s Terrible Death And Single Car Crashes