ESP - Safe to drive without?

Mc Love

As the the title suggests, is it safe to drive without ESP or Electronic Stability Control?

leeroybrown

Perfectly fine unless you do something silly expecting it to kick in.

tossy

Of course its safe once you realise it's not working and won't be there to bail you out if you get into trouble,people drove for years with no ESP on their cars.

You should however get the fault checked out,the ESP light (i presume the light has come on to indicate a fault as opposed to you just deciding to turn it off) could be illuminated for a 100 different reason,depending on the car the light might not even me indicating a fault with the ESP itself but with some other area of the car.

The rule is orange/amber light drive on and get the problem investigated.

Red light stop and phone a friend.

Mc Love

Yep the light has come on alright and is amber, will get it checked monday. Is it worth going to Stealer? or independent garage?

tossy

Mc Love wrote: »

Yep the light has come on alright and is amber, will get it checked monday. Is it worth going to Stealer? or independent garage?

Reputable independent would get my vote over a stealer, what's the make/model of car and where you located?

Mc Love

Limerick - Focus

copacetic

Mc Love wrote: »

Yep the light has come on alright and is amber, will get it checked monday. Is it worth going to Stealer? or independent garage?

the light being on indicates a fault, not just that the ESP is 'off'. i.e Your ABS may not be functional at all.

Take it easy until you get to a garage to get error code read.

tossy

Mc Love wrote: »

Limerick - Focus

Im sure someone from the area might be able to recommend a good garage.

Row

I'd suspect a faulty abs speed sensor as the abs and esp are all connected...but like the lads have said a diagnostic check is the only way forward....:)

senordingdong

I thought this thread was about extra sensory powers....

They would definitely help with your driving.

Armin_Tamzarian

Mc Love wrote: »

Limerick - Focus

If it was a car with serious RWD power then it would be an issue, especially this time of year.
I reckon you'll be safe enough though,

CiniO

copacetic wrote: »

the light being on indicates a fault, not just that the ESP is 'off'. i.e Your ABS may not be functional at all.

Take it easy until you get to a garage to get error code read.

If the ABS was gone as well, then he would have the ABS light on.
Otherwise ABS is fine.

tossy

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

If it was a car with serious RWD power then it would be an issue, especially this time of year.
I reckon you'll be safe enough though,

Off topic and not relating to the OP's plight but if a driver can't handle a high powered RWD car with no ESP then they shouldn't be driving a high powered RWD car even if it has ESP.

Armin_Tamzarian

tossy wrote: »

Off topic and not relating to the OP's plight but if a driver can't handle a high powered RWD car with no ESP then they shouldn't be driving a high powered RWD car even if it has ESP.

Not true...
I had an incident before where without any warning the car completely lost control on a stretch of motorway in heavy rain.
The TC had failed.
It fishtailed down the road for what seemed like forever and there was nothing I could do about it.
Was sure I was gonna wreck it but fortunately escaped without a scratch.
Point is that with full TC on that wouldn't have happened.
It's easy for an experienced driver to get caught out by a RWD with a lot of power when the roads are very slippy.
Obviously getting a failure results in a much more dangerous situation than if you never had TC to begin with.

wersal gummage

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

Not true...
I had an incident before where without any warning the car completely lost control on a stretch of motorway in heavy rain.
The TC had failed.
It fishtailed down the road for what seemed like forever and there was nothing I could do about it.

how did this happen as a matter of interest ??? presumably at motorway speed you would need to be horsing on the throttle in third gear or so in a hugely powerful car while changing lanes in order for the back end to break lose ???? and if you just kept the power on (more gently) would you not have just powered on out of it when you re-gained traction ??? the fishtailing sounds like you just let off the throttle completely ????

i have a VERY under powered RWD car at the moment and can get the car to slide fairly dramatically in wet conditions with the various traction aids turned ON by the way!!

Armin_Tamzarian

wersal gummage wrote: »

how did this happen as a matter of interest ??? presumably at motorway speed you would need to be horsing on the throttle in third gear or so in a hugely powerful car while changing lanes in order for the back end to break lose ???? and if you just kept the power on (more gently) would you not have just powered on out of it when you re-gained traction ??? the fishtailing sounds like you just let off the throttle completely ????

i have a VERY under powered RWD car at the moment and can get the car to slide fairly dramatically in wet conditions with the various traction aids turned ON by the way!!

I was in a roughly 400BHP RWD car heading towards Holyhead in heavy rain.
Ended up getting into a bit of a race with an M3.
The car's stock TC was famously dangerous and needed to be turned off every time you started up in order for the aftermarket TC to take over.
I forgot to turn off the stock this time.
Accelerated a bit (pedal was only about half way down) at about 70MPH and the arse end just whipped around like something crazy.
Once it broke free it just kept going like a pendulum, nothing I did would slow it down.
It eventually died down enough that I was able to power out if it.
Bottom line though, with the RaceLocic TC functioning that would never have happened...

RustyNut

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

Not true...
I had an incident before where without any warning the car completely lost control on a stretch of motorway in heavy rain.
The TC had failed.
It fishtailed down the road for what seemed like forever and there was nothing I could do about it.
Was sure I was gonna wreck it but fortunately escaped without a scratch.
Point is that with full TC on that wouldn't have happened.
It's easy for an experienced driver to get caught out by a RWD with a lot of power when the roads are very slippy.
Obviously getting a failure results in a much more dangerous situation than if you never had TC to begin with.

That sounds like a basic driver error to me, too fast for the conditions.

Armin_Tamzarian

RustyNut wrote: »

That sounds like a basic driver error to me, too fast for the conditions.

Whatever.
The point is still the same though.
It wouldn't have happened if the TC was working.

djimi

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

I was in a roughly 400BHP RWD car heading towards Holyhead in heavy rain.
Ended up getting into a bit of a race with an M3.
The car's stock TC was famously dangerous and needed to be turned off every time you started up in order for the aftermarket TC to take over.
I forgot to turn off the stock this time.
Accelerated a bit (pedal was only about half way down) at about 70MPH and the arse end just whipped around like something crazy.
Once it broke free it just kept going like a pendulum, nothing I did would slow it down.
It eventually died down enough that I was able to power out if it.
Bottom line though, with the RaceLocic TC functioning that would never have happened...

To be fair if you werent racing an M3 and were able to drive the conditions in a car that powerful it wouldnt have happened...

Armin_Tamzarian

djimi wrote: »

To be fair if you werent racing an M3 and were able to drive the conditions in a car that powerful it wouldnt have happened...

You're missing the point.
The TC failed and caught me out.
If I knew I had no TC I would have drove accordingly.

Armin_Tamzarian

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

Not true...
I had an incident before where without any warning the car completely lost control on a stretch of motorway in heavy rain.
The TC had failed.
It fishtailed down the road for what seemed like forever and there was nothing I could do about it.
Was sure I was gonna wreck it but fortunately escaped without a scratch.
Point is that with full TC on that wouldn't have happened.
It's easy for an experienced driver to get caught out by a RWD with a lot of power when the roads are very slippy.
Obviously getting a failure results in a much more dangerous situation than if you never had TC to begin with.

Driving like a bell end no doubt, also most folk consider themselves experienced drivers, majority of us are average at best.

Armin_Tamzarian

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

I was in a roughly 400BHP RWD car heading towards Holyhead in heavy rain.
Ended up getting into a bit of a race with an M3.

RoverJames wrote: »

Driving like a bell end no doubt, also most folk consider themselves experienced drivers, majority of us are average at best.

Class :pac: I was right, racing an M3 in a 400bhp car in heavy rain on a public road :rolleyes: Bell end doesn't actually come close to summing that up.

Armin_Tamzarian

RoverJames wrote: »

Driving like a bell end no doubt, also most folk consider themselves experienced drivers, majority of us are average at best.

I'm a really good driver.
If I raced Michael Schmacher I'd probably win.

Armin_Tamzarian

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

I'm a really good driver.
If I raced Michael Schmacher I'd probably win.

Unless the TC failed :pac:

CiniO

RoverJames wrote: »

Unless the TC failed :pac:

ROTFL

Mc Love

Car was fine today. the warning light never showed up. Checked ESP setting and it is switched on, it might be because of one of the tyres losing traction.

Will see how it goes

galwaytt

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

If it was a car with serious RWD power then it would be an issue, especially this time of year.
I reckon you'll be safe enough though,

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

Not true...
I had an incident before where without any warning the car completely lost control on a stretch of motorway in heavy rain.
The TC had failed.
It fishtailed down the road for what seemed like forever and there was nothing I could do about it.
Was sure I was gonna wreck it but fortunately escaped without a scratch.
Point is that with full TC on that wouldn't have happened.
It's easy for an experienced driver to get caught out by a RWD with a lot of power when the roads are very slippy.
Obviously getting a failure results in a much more dangerous situation than if you never had TC to begin with.

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

Whatever.
The point is still the same though.
It wouldn't have happened if the TC was working.

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

You're missing the point.
The TC failed and caught me out.
If I knew I had no TC I would have drove accordingly.

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

I'm a really good driver.
If I raced Michael Schmacher I'd probably win.

I call Troll.
Or, in Carlsberg-speak, idiot.

tossy wrote: »

Off topic and not relating to the OP's plight but if a driver can't handle a high powered RWD car with no ESP then they shouldn't be driving a high powered RWD car even if it has ESP.

+3/4.........aka +1 to a great extent.

....and 1000's of cars manage without ESP everyday.

ArphaRima

All of this is a little bit off topic, but hey.

I managed to raise my heartbeat myself the other day. Myself and a random TT-RS were driving at a spirited rate along a stretch of road. I entered the roundabout straight, exited at a 45 degree angle right then left, then straight.
It probably looked impressive to the car behind but TC corrected it I'd say more than I did (I'm new to RWD and also to high-bhp).

Wet, rainy, and I did give a bit too much poke leaving the roundabout -basic driver error stupidity.
The lesson that I learnt was that I need lessons. I'm working on that.
Also glad I had TC/ESP. You'd be mental to switch it off on a miserable wet day imho.
To the OP; If its broken fix it.

tossy

fluffer wrote: »

(I'm new to RWD and also to high-bhp).

And you decided to race a 4wd pocket rocket on public roads? Forgive me for taking the moral high ground but...

I'm all for a traffic light grand prix if conditions allow but when you are trying to gain championship points be taking a roundabout quicker than the other guy you are on dangerous ground.

If you have spent a life driving FWD cars (even high powered ones) or 4wd cars you are in no way prepared for the shock of driving a high powered RWD car esp in Ireland with lovely our climate you really have to go back to the basics and start again,but if you are up to it there is nothing like a 300bhp + RWD car with no traction control like a well set up S14 etc a car you can't relax in,but in a good way.

congo_90

tossy wrote: »

The rule is orange/amber light drive on and get the problem investigated.

Red light stop and phone a friend.

orange means go on red means stop

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

Not true...
I had an incident before where without any warning the car completely lost control on a stretch of motorway in heavy rain.

Not to be on a high horse but good observation plus releative driving skills means that should and hopefully was an isolated case where you learnt. I've driven plenty of high and low power rwd in some crap conditions only one had and sort of traction control yet never had any issues.
I did however have an issue on the M11 today in a fwd which was down to shi tty tires planing out at motorway speeds (100km/h)

wersal gummage wrote: »

how did this happen as a matter of interest ??? presumably at motorway speed you would need to be horsing on the throttle in third gear or so in a hugely powerful car while changing lanes in order for the back end to break lose ???? and if you just kept the power on (more gently) would you not have just powered on out of it when you re-gained traction ??? the fishtailing sounds like you just let off the throttle completely ????

i have a VERY under powered RWD car at the moment and can get the car to slide fairly dramatically in wet conditions with the various traction aids turned ON by the way!!

As my above post is saying it can be due to shi tty tires.. cheap asian types we all know that last long time but dont save ya on a bend in a puddle.

I would reckon on a focus which is fwd esp is almost pointless unless the car is being sent around a track or is the special edtions... again saved for track days... Having said that I recently drove a 07 focus and it handled like a shopping trolley

Mozoltov!

RoverJames wrote: »

Driving like a bell end no doubt, also most folk consider themselves experienced drivers, majority of us are average at best.

RoverJames wrote: »

Class :pac: I was right, racing an M3 in a 400bhp car in heavy rain on a public road :rolleyes: Bell end doesn't actually come close to summing that up.

galwaytt wrote: »

I call Troll.
Or, in Carlsberg-speak, idiot.

Friendly fellow user advice: Step away from the keyboards and calm down lads. Jesus.

Mozoltov!

Mozoltov! wrote: »

Friendly fellow user advice: Step away from the keyboards and calm down lads. Jesus.

I was perfectly calm No warning / infraction etc given for my post either (I'm mellowing :pac: )