Bereaved parents sue Apple after motorist distracted by Facetime app killed their 5-year-old daughter

THE bereaved parents of a five-year-old girl are suing Apple over allegations the tech giant's Facetime app is to blame for the crash.

James and Bethany Modisette's daughter Moriah was killed when Garrett Wilhelm, 22, smashed into the back of their car on Christmas Eve 2014.

He was using the app Facetime whilst speeding along the road at 65 miles per hour and is now facing manslaughter charges.

But the Modisette family are also suing Apple for an undisclosed sum over allegations that it should have installed a system on all iPhones to stop people from using the devices whilst at the wheel of a car.

In legal documents filed in California, the couple alleged that Apple was liable for the crash because it patented a system to prevent "distracted driving" but failed to install it on iPhones.

Apple's patented technology effectively stops motorists from texting or using Facetime whilst they are driving by using GPS tracking to work out if they are travelling above a certain speed.

"Defendant Apple has consistently and continuously failed to implement a safer, alternative design that would lock-out and prevent use of FaceTime while driving," the court documents said.

Wilhelm was driving a large Toyota 4Runner when he slammed into the back of the Modisette's Toyota Camry.

The impact spun the family's car around, before Wilhelm's large vehicle "continued its trajectory by rolling up and over the driver side of the Modisette's car".

"This caused severe damage to the entire vehicle and such extreme damage to the driver's side of the car that rescue workers laboured extensively to extract James and Moriah Modisette from their car."

Mum Bethany and her other daughter Isabella, who survived the crash, then "visibly and audibly witnessed rescue workers' gruelling efforts" to remove James and Moriah from the wreckage.

Moriah was airlifted to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, where she died from her injuries.

James, Bethany and eight-year-old Isabella were treated in Denton Regional Medical Centre.

In the court documents, it is alleged that Wilhelm told police at the scene that he was using Facetime before the crash.

"Police located his iPhone at the crash scene with the Facetime application still active," the Modisette family's legal team wrote.

The modern phenomenon of "distracted driving" is becoming a major problem on the roads.

In 2008, Apple filed a patent application for a "driver handheld computing device lock-out" system, which was granted in 2014.

However, this functionality has still not been installed in iPhones.

"The Apple iPhone 6 Plus that was a substantial factor in causing or contributing to cause this accident was defective because, at the time of the collision in question, no universal solution or 'built in' method of disabling the sending or receiving of text messages, emails, video calling services or any other notifications had been implemented by Apple Inc. for the iPhone," the legal documents continued.

"Despite both the technology since 2008 and a patent on that technology... defendant Apple Inc. has consistently and continuously failed to implement a safer, alternative design that would lock out and prevent use of Facetime whilst driving."