(Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. extended itsignition-switch trial win streak as a Texas jury found the safetydefect played no role in a fatal 2011 crash.

The verdict, in state court in Houston, is the company’s thirdtrial win following two in federal court in New York. Hundreds ofignition switch claims remain, spurred by the company’s recall ofmillions of vehicles for a flaw ultimately linked to hundreds ofdeaths and injuries.

The jury of eight women and four men took only about an hour toreach its decision following a three-week trial in Houston.

Jurors heard GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra testify byvideo that the company’s failure to properly classify the ignitionflaw as a safety defect — which would’ve triggered a massiverecall — was part of a “series of mistakes” that had “tragicconsequences,” including some deaths.

In 2014, GM recalled 2.6 million U.S. cars with potentiallyfaulty ignition switches that may jostle off, cutting power andpreventing safety systems such as power steering, power brakes, airbags and seat belts, from working as designed.

Dueling accident reconstruction experts in the Houston trialgave the jury sharply different versions of how the crash occurred,as Zachary Stevens, now 24, has no memory of the accident.

“What happened was simple and tragic: this was a high-speedside-impact crash on a wet road caused by a reckless young man whotried to pass cars on the right shoulder and lost control,” GeneralMotors spokesman Jim Cain said in an e-mailed statement. “As aresult, an innocent man was killed.”

‘Heartbreaking’ loss

Josh Davis, a lawyer for Stevens, called the loss“heartbreaking” for the family. He’d sought a jury award of $15.5million plus punitive damages.

GM said the crash occurred after Stevens lost control of hismother’s Saturn Sky while speeding recklessly on a rain-slickcountry road, ultimately smashing sideways into an oncoming truck.The air bag didn’t deploy because it was a side impact, not becauseof an ignition switch failure, Mike Brock, GM’s lawyer toldjurors.

“Every expert in the case agrees that if it’s a side impact, theair bag is not designed to deploy,’’ he said in closing argumentsThursday. “The recall condition — the ignition switch— did not occur.’’

Stevens’s lawyer said Zach lost power steering and power brakeswhen his ignition switch jiggled off, causing him to smash into theoncoming truck at an oblique frontal angle that should havetriggered the airbags. The fact that Stevens’s air bags and seatbelt pretensioners didn’t fire are tell-tale indicators the car’spower was off, Davis told jurors.

“That defect wipes out all safety systems,’’ he said.

Fast driving

Davis conceded that Stevens was speeding before the accident, butthat didn’t absolve GM of responsibility. “When our kids drive toofast,’’ or text and drive, he said, “We still get our safetyfeatures in our car. GM was still negligent.’’

Jurors also had to decide what to make of false evidenceprovided by Stevens family members, who gave them the wrong car keyand inaccurate testimony about how they found it.

GM complained the Stevenses faked the evidence to bolster theirclaim the switch jostled, because GM’s recall notice warned ownersthat added weight on a key ring could contribute to jiggling theignition. The Stevenses’ lawyer insisted the family innocentlymistook the key they gave jurors — which most likely belongedto Zach’s GMC truck — as the missing Saturn Sky key when itwas found on the mother’s misplaced key bundle in a storage tubretrieved from the family’s flooded garage last month.

Texas State Judge Robert Schaffer refused GM’s request to throwout the case because of the false key evidence. But he personallytold jurors they’d been given the wrong key and let them considerthat when weighing the Stevenses’ credibility.

The case is Stevens v. General Motors LLC, 2015-04442,152nd Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas(Houston).

Related: GM must defend ignition-switch suits affecting usedcars

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.