TEXAS CITY — The surviving members of a family shattered by a fatal freeway crash in 2005 are suing the company that made the vehicle in which their loved ones died.

AP

League City resident Adam Powledge, 39, was headed south on Interstate 45 with his three children and his stepson, 12-year-old Jacob Melton Powledge, to school on Oct. 18, 2005.

The children attended the Shekinah Radiance Academy, next to Abundant Life Christian Church in La Marque.

About a half-mile south of the Holland Road overpass, the family’s 2004 Chevrolet Malibu veered off the freeway’s right lane, went about 1,400 feet on the grassy shoulder and hit a pole that held up a traffic sign. The car burst into flames seconds after the impact.

Adam Powledge and Jacob were killed, as were Powledge’s children: Rachel, 7; Christian, 10; and Isaac, 6.

Doris Powledge, widow of Adam and mother of the children, has filed a lawsuit against General Motors.

The lawsuit, filed by local attorney Anthony Buzbee and Dallas attorney E. Todd Tracy, claims one of several possible vehicle defects caused the vehicle to accelerate without Adam Powledge’s participation.

At the time of the crash, one witness told police the car was traveling about 80 mph.

General Motors representatives in the company’s corporate headquarters in Detroit said they had not yet received a copy of the lawsuit and could not comment on it.