barneyb

The name Paul Walker, a leading man in the 'Fast and Furious' franchise, I think they were filming F&F 7 at the time of his death, recently made the news again when it was announced that all the wrongful death lawsuits had been settled. One defendant was Porsche AG, the maker of the vehicle he died in.

One of the claims against Porsche was that the safety equipment in the 605 hp car was not designed to protect the occupants at anywhere near the advertised top speed of the car (200 mph).

So this gets me thinking, buy any high performance car and get special tires, special brakes, special suspension, special engine but inside the car gets decked out with the same safety equipment as any econobox. Do we need to rethink how high performance cars come equipped? What do you think?

WarmMilk

iTrader: (1)

People need to stop suing for retarded reasons... pretty soon you'll need to sign a disclaimer to wake up in the morning

If you want safety capable of saving your *** at 200mph, the car will cost as much as an F1 car and you'll have to drive around in a helmet and a HANS device everywhere

barneyb

The car Walker died in wasn't cheap. It was a race car with a license plate. And even if the owner had been a good citizen and never broke the speed limit you know that that car is still going to the track on Sunday. These are enthusiast cars and will be at some point driven to their limit. Do you think the maker has no obligation to provide nothing but the usual seatbelt and air bag in the steering wheel?

MinusPrevious

iTrader: (3)

From what I read. His estate was worth some 25M. The family sued the driver for 10M & they went after Porsche for the following reason:

Meadow’s lawyers said the car had a history of “instability and control issues” and the car manufacturer “failed to install its electronic stability control system

Porsche made the decision to settle vs fighting the issue in court.

Smart, mechanically minded attorneys can find these manufacturer omissions & exploit it in court

Im not saying its right / wrong. Its just the way it is in our system of justice

barneyb

What the Walker estate got from Porsche AG or whether any claims were valid isn't what I was hoping to discuss. The safety equipment in a race car doesn't resemble the safety equipment in dealer sold cars. However, certain dealer sold cars have all the performance of a race car. Dealer sold cars are crossing the line. How can the same safety equipment be adequate?

Biggiesacks

there is already an agency that deals with this issue. The NHTSA does all the crash testing and only cars that pass their tests can be sold for highway usage.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/

The testing and safety equipment mandated is based on situations that can happen during legal operation of the car. If you are doing stupid things on public roads/highways then that is on you. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.



Most tracks and certainly all Motorsport organizations have their own safety equipment requirements.

barneyb

My 1970 Ford Maverick, a tin can on wheels, had wide seat belts and shoulder straps. The belt buckles had the loose ends of the belts protruding from them which you cinched up and when you did you were locked in place even though the car had bench seats.

My Evo has skinny belts with spring loaded reels. I keep myself in place by gripping the steering wheel. NHTSA says many injuries are caused by the belts being too loose. I wonder why?

The emphasis has been on making belt restraint systems acceptable to the public in order to increase use. What has been lost in this effort is any effort to make them more effective. In fact they have been made less effective. Now that seat belt use is generally accepted and in many places required by law, NHTSA resists making them better.

MinusPrevious

iTrader: (3)

But, this Porsche was not a race car. It was a street legal "super car" and should have had an available electronic stability system, installed as standard equipment, as filed by the claimant .

The term "race car" is being used way too loosely. To me, a race car is a gutted, caged, devoid of air bags, driving lights, climate systems, etc vehicle used strictly on the race track.

The Porsche Carrera GT shows a spec of 605 crank HP, much less than many of our modified EvOs. Not much of a race car if you ask me

Biggiesacks

Porsche settled this because they didn't want the negative PR of a court battle. I'm fairly certain they had 0 liability here. Its with this situation in mind though that Dodge has you sign a many page long acknowledgment before they will sell you a Demon.

MinusPrevious

iTrader: (3)

Maybe the same can be noted about the EvORS (factory deleted ABS). If one was to get into an accident & sued Mitsu

barneyb

I'd define race car as any vehicle entered into a sanctioned event based on vehicle speed and/or handling. A stripped vehicle doesn't necessarily indicate a racing vehicle. Often times the rules forbid it.

Number 68, the Ford GT that took the flag at Le Mans last year had an engine output of less then 600 hp.

MinusPrevious

iTrader: (3)

The Porsche, in question, was not involved in a sanctioned event. It may exhibit some level of performance, like a race car, but it is far from it, IMHO

In any event, this is a good topic & worthy of discussion!

Biggiesacks

I think it comes down to how much you want to infantilize the consumer. The government already mandates that specific safety equipment and crash test capabilities be in place to sell a car to consumers. Personally I think people should have the options to choose between different cars based on their different characteristics (yay capitalism). If you want a super safe car you can look at cars that are geared towards that, if you want something as fast as possible you can look for that, if you want something in the middle there is something for that. The market thrives on giving people the choice of what they want, and IMO the less government regulation the better.

DeeezNuuuts83

I agree, Porsche likely just wanted it to go away quickly and quietly, especially with it involving Paul Walker and how closely tied he was with car culture. Court proceedings would have been all over the news with them looking like the bad guy, even if Porsche ended up winning.

kikiturbo

this reminds me of those stupid lawsuits about people spilling coffe from mcdonalds and getting burnt, then suing mcd for not warning them about it... the whole system is a joke..