The widow of the man who was driving a Porsche sports car that crashed and killed Fast & Furious actor Paul Walker is suing the carmaker. She is claiming that design flaws caused both men to die in the crash in November.

The wrongful death lawsuit by Kristine Rodas says her husband was driving at 88kph – not at unsafe speeds as law enforcement investigators decided – before it crashed last year.

Roger Rodas, trained as a race car driver, was driving a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT capable of speeds more than 322kph, but the lawsuit says the vehicle lacked a proper crash cage and safety features in the petrol tank that would have saved both men’s lives. The lawsuit also contends that a failure in the car’s suspension system forced it to career out of control and strike three trees while driving down a street in Santa Clarita, California.

“The Carrera GT was unsafe for its intended use by reason of defects in its manufacture, design, testing, component and constituents, so that it would not safely serve its purpose,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from Porsche Cars North America.

An investigation into the death of the actor was aided by engineers from Porsche, who evaluated the wreckage of the rare car. Results concluded that it was unsafe speed and not mechanical problems that caused the crash.