Dangerous ESP. Is it faulty or is this how it's meant to be?

[handmadematt]

2002 1.9TDI 5 door A3 105bhp. 108k miles. FSH. Drives great.

I've done 250 miles since buying the car. I've found the ESP scares the hell out of me from time to time!
I'm not a racer but I drive proactively when it's safe to do so, I'm normally more concerned with economy than speed but I do like to put my foot down when I can reap the benefits and get up to a good speed quickly and maintain it for some time. I'm not the sort of driver that accelerates towards traffic lights, roundabout's or traffic etc. I don't jump between acceleration and braking... Wasting all that precious energy!

For example on big curling slip roads driving fast and pulling it tight into the apex around the bend, well within my and the car's limits it suddenly and unnecessarily starts applying a brake here and there in fast jolts! Very disconcerting and damn right dangerous if there was any inconsistencies in the road surface or oil etc. I feel that it might be faulty or it's just awful to begin with!? When it happens it feels like there's something wrong with the car, or you've run over something.

What's people's opinions? Is it faulty or is this how it's meant to be?

The way I see it, it either needs a fix or I'll be looking in to removing the feature altogether to save having to remember turning off the "certain death" button every time I get in the car...
has anyone ever seen this removal done? Can it be done?
(I obviously don't want to compromise ABS)
Thanks.

 

[<tuffty/>]

ESP aggression will be dependant on a few things... it tends to get a little upset with ditch finders and maps though... I found it a royal pain in the **** but then my level of tune is a little more than most... I used to religiously turn it off as part of my start up procedure but it started to wear the ESP button which my OCD wouldn't accept so I coded ESP out and bought a new switch...

Needs VCDS to do and in principle is simple... but... its possible to ****** up if not careful...

Here is a thread to get you started...
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/mk20-abs-controller-soft-coding.171698/

...but I'd advise you do a bit more research before you attempt this as the coding may be different on your car to others discussed in this thread..

<tuffty/>

 

[handmadematt]

ESP aggression will be dependant on a few things... it tends to get a little upset with ditch finders and maps though...
<tuffty/>

Thanks for the great info. I'll do some reading.
What are "ditch finders" and "maps" in this context?

 

[<tuffty/>]

ditch finders are cheap tyres that have next to no grip in cold/damp weather so will spin easily... a map is a remap which obviously means more power and more chance of wheel spin and ESP trying to intervene

<tuffty/>

 

[handmadematt]

Understood.
I'm pretty certain the car is fully standard with no remap. Low mileage, FSH, serviced annually irrelevant of milage. It also had the child locks on when I bought it.

 

[handmadematt]

Another thought...
When I picked the car up there was surface rust on the discs and the brakes were VERY sensitive with all that grip, like pads on sand paper. It'd been parked for a while obviously.
Within a few miles it'd all worn off and the brakes were feeling really good. REALLY good. Very progressive but with huge stopping power.
I wonder if the aggressiveness of the ESP is in part down to the fact the brakes are simply incredible.

I have done over 250 miles though and the ESP still horrible.
Literally horrible.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Have you scanned for any fault codes? a proper scan using VCDS would be an idea to see if there are any issues with the ABS system (ESP is part of this)... spurious ABS issues (faulty sensors etc) can give odd ESP operation... as can things like the steering wheel not being on straight etc

<tuffty/>

 

[epox]

what tyres, mine was crap in the damp or wet esp on all the time until 4 new uniroyal rainsport 3s fitted.

 

[newbster]

"within a few miles it'd all worn off and the brakes were feeling really good. REALLY good. Very progressive but with huge stopping power.
I wonder if the aggressiveness of the ESP is in part down to the fact the brakes are simply incredible."

are you sure you are driving an 8L, not what is usually said about these brakes

for what its worth I've never had the ESP kick in how you describe, pulling away hard in the wet a few times, but long radius bend, never.

 

[thegoal007]

I too have read the comments about the so called 'poor' standard brakes and simply put I don't know what they are talking about. They are perfectly adequate for the standard car.
As a matter of interest have you tried to do a number of three point turns to see if you get the same locking feeling at very low speeds?

 

[handmadematt]

The front two tyres are mixed brands Kumho and Hankook. Both have over 50% tread remaining. The rear tyres are two matching Lassa brand with 75% tread remaining. Every heard of these brands? They sound budget. (Maybe I'll rotate the tyres and see if that helps? Put the matching set on the front.)

Maybe a scan is the next step? Seeing if there are any faults.

 

[<tuffty/>]

...Maybe a scan is the next step? Seeing if there are any faults.

Have you scanned for any fault codes? a proper scan using VCDS would be an idea to see if there are any issues with the ABS system (ESP is part of this)... spurious ABS issues (faulty sensors etc) can give odd ESP operation... as can things like the steering wheel not being on straight etc...

<tuffty/>

 

[epox]

Honest bin the old tyres, the rain sport were 69 ish each from camskil and 10 each to get fitted. Night and day esp never kicks in now (well apart from when on the snow).

 

[handmadematt]

Honest bin the old tyres, the rain sport were 69 ish each from camskil and 10 each to get fitted. Night and day esp never kicks in now (well apart from when on the snow).

Over £300 is a lot to throw at a problem without any certainty that it is the solution.
All the tyres on the car have lots of life left in them too.
I don't mind whether the ESP is coming on or not, my only concern is that it is working properly.
Thanks though.

 

[epox]

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk .

hope you find out whats wrong.
mark