For the past two Winters I've done what the manual says and have turned off the ESP in my 02 TT when driving in the snow. The ESP would remain off and the light lit on the dashboard until I hit the button again. The first snow of this year when turning the ESP off, it turns back on when I hit the brakes.The dealer tells me this is normal, but I know it not to be. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
no point in having the switch if that happens tell the "dealer". See if he can drive without touching the brakes. seek another dealer......for the repair.
"mike constantine" wrote
Interesting. My '01 A4 behaves like what you experienced during the past two winters (hitting the brakes doesn't cause ESP to turn back on).
The only thing I can think of is that the dealer reflashed your ECU with a newer/updated software during one of your recent service visits and that's how the new program works. Either that, or it's broken, because I don't really see much logic in that new behavior. Strange.
Cheers,
Pete
Tsih? Something wrong with your ESP if you have to turn it off in snow?-) Or just so bad tyres that you can't move forward?
ESP should be on in snow.
- Yak
"Michael Burman" wrote
Well, depends. If you get stuck in deep snow, sometimes the only way to get out is to allow some wheel spin. ESP will not allow too much wheel spin, hence you switch it off to get going.
Cheers,
Pete
Yeah, in this special case, true. But then that would apply to mud also, and then you should never have ESP on according to the first writer ;).
99,9% of the time, ESP should be kept on, at winter. It's the only thing that can save from black ice.- Yak
OTOH, if it decides to go straight on when you're trying to turn right...
Been there, almost crashed into that - got to the off button just in time.
If I remember, I'll turn it back on for high-speed motorway runs.
ESP goes to the direction where you turn, if it doesn't, you should go to service and say there's something wrong with it. If you play with oversteer and turn to other direction to get it sorted, ESP will also turn the car to that other direction (let it be out of the corner or what, but that's where you're steering).
But otherwise, sounds like there's something wrong with your car, or just bollocks, since disengaging ESP isn't something you have time to do if the car is actually going out.
- Yak
..and thay say "nothing wrong, sir. Working as designed"
Reach over with left hand, slap dashboard. What's that, half a second? Less?
In any event, it worked: with ESP now switched off, the car turned fast enough to oversteer. Quite handy at the time, as it allowed me to go /around/ the roundabout, instead of into a tall kerb.
Next you'll be telling me that TT windows don't drop on their own, or that the interior light doesn't sometimes fail to turn off (usually in conjunction with the internal doorlock button failing).... ;o)
To be fair, I /do/ trust ESP to keep the car in a straight line. I just don't trust it to accurately follow driver inputs.
H1K
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