Can I switch off ESP permanently?

[km]

Does anyone know how to turn this cr4p off permanently? Is there any way the dealer can do it or do it through VAG com or something? Dont mind the traction control but esp should be off by default.
Today I was on a coastal A road & came round a left hand corner to find mud all over the road mid corner, out went the rear end a little and then the o/s front brake came on WTF... Sent the car side on down the road full lock while I stood on the throttle to straighten it up amid each wheel braking as it pleased ..... Yes, you probably all know the sinking feeling when the steering turns till it hits the stops but to make matters worse I had the 2 kids in the back! What was it trying to do to us?
We never passed 60mph but how irronic that the kids thought I was messing around and the 6yr old reported back to her mother "daddy was going sideways" ..

 

[WW_VRS]

With ESP you can't steer out in the way you'd expect, you've got to just keep steering towards where you want to go.

If you try to counter-act it, it will assume that is the new target direction.

In my case, ESP has saved my bacon a few times, and unlike the traction control which to me is a royal pain as it kicks in too early, I'd like the TC off and ESP on most of the time (on the public road at least).

Your experience is obviously different from mine though & glad you + family are ok

 

[m0rk]

ESP stops you fishtailling, and having done back to back tests on low grip surfaces is good

if you're saying you were driving too fast for the conditions, and went too quickly to see there was mud on the road with your 6yr old in the car it might be worth backing off?

 

[Niall]

Is your car lowered? then the esp sensors might need to be recalibrated. After changing suspension this is also needed.

 

[jonjay]

Though i am for enjoying a car and having option to turn off features i am against safety features for powerful cars being turned off completely. Like the above said one day it could save your life so its priceless.

 

[Chris 16v]

Do all Leon Cupras have ESP? i know i have TC, but for example my mate has an astra coupe with esp and it will not get lairy around bends etc, however, my leons back end is very skittish and tends to swing out quite regularly!

I read a thing about holding down the tc button to switch off the esp however this maybe purely on newer models

 

[RobM]

Does your button say TC or ESP? I know the LCR has ESP has standard but I don't think it was standard on the LC... an option possibly?

 

[Chris 16v]

Not enitreily sure, without looking at the button, i just know where it is by feel lol - from memory it just casys 'TC' (which is a pain in the arse btw as it lets the wheels spin and skip and then cuts in, in a very abrupt manner!)

 

[Balf2k]

I like the ESP, with the traction off I have slipped on some diesel on a vary large roundabout and think it could have been messy without. As M0rk said, it does indeed stop the snaking down the road effect. I only had to correct the steering one way then the car bites back onto the road. In my MK4 Golf (without ESP) I would have been skating around the roundabout for a lot longer I feel.

 

[panholio]

I never really switch mine off for day to day driving. I don't usually drive in a manner where it needs to intervene either. Only thing that bothers me is the wheelspin thing, that's bloody annoying if you need to be a bit quick off the line

Never had a problem with my Leon round bends, maybe I'm a wuss and not driving it hard enough!

 

[Chris 16v]

Just looked, mine just says TCS on the button!

 

[Big_daddy]

I never really switch mine off for day to day driving. I don't usually drive in a manner where it needs to intervene either. Only thing that bothers me is the wheelspin thing, that's bloody annoying if you need to be a bit quick off the line

Never had a problem with my Leon round bends, maybe I'm a wuss and not driving it hard enough!

Yeh when you need the extra power of the lights or when approaching the round about you may need extra leap, with out the traction control kickin in espically when you begin crossin the round about

 

[km]

Well guys from your responses seems the only option is to switch it off and from searches I've done seems the esp never really goes off totally.

Suppose I best learn to depend on driver aids and keep to 40 on main A roads during hours of darkness......

 

[DIFT]

Cant say ESP has ever saved me on the road, but has saved my bacon on track a few times.

I think it was just a one off, fairly high speed, and mud, dont write off the ESP as dangerous to early. If you did turn it off, im sure you'd need to tell the insurance company (from a legal point of view).

In normal conditions, unless you were being a complete loon, you'd never get the back end out as far as you did.

 

[daveyonthemove]

If you did turn it off, im sure you'd need to tell the insurance company (from a legal point of view).

.

I don't think the insurance companys are interested in ESP as Autocar (i think) were trying to get insurance companys to recognise it as a safety feature and award lower premiums to those who had it.
My last car (pug 307) had it as standard and i never knew what it was til i hit ice one day. before i'd realised i'd lost control the rear N/S brake pulled my car back into line. It was only as the brake released that i had registered that the car was slipping on the road, but it sorted it out. I don't know how VAG and PSA differ with ESP, but i'd love to have it on my Leon before winter really turns down the temp. If it's already on mine but needs activating then i'd apreciate any guidance on how to do it with vagcom, but i doubt it is?

 

[Reg]

Never had a problem with my Leon round bends, maybe I'm a wuss and not driving it hard enough!

No, I think you are just driving it properly!

 

[WW_VRS]

ESP has kept the car on the road a few times when there was standing water in the fast lane and I hit it at 70mph or thereabouts. Not ideal to put it mildly.

And no, ABS wouldn't have kept it straight as I was NOT lifting off (I couldnt due to a car besides me trying to go into the side of me, he was blind & stupid).

Either way, I sure as h*ck don't do 40mph on the backroads, and generally unless I want to have a laugh on roundabouts or when driving off I don't turn it off

 

[km]

I think it was just a one off, fairly high speed, and mud, dont write off the ESP as dangerous to early.

I'll agree it may be a one off mate. A one off I dont want to repeat. In terms of high speed, trucks go round the corner at 55 as does my gran! I'm sure if an LCR could go round the corner at more than a ton without an issues ..... Anyway, I see some wreckage there tonight and the road is clean so can only assume someone wasn't as 'lucky' as me

Anyway think I'll check it in to Seat to get looked over as the general concensus seems to be ESP is reliable

 

[WW_VRS]

I would

It might be possible to tweak the sensitivity of the TC part down a bit

 

[Tam]

I watched fifth gear one night (there really was nothing else on tv!) and little old Jason plato was throwing a TT round the track and complained that even when he switched the tc and esp off they were still on in the back ground.

Tiff then pops up with the "well if you hold the button down for 10 seconds it disables it completly.

Jason goes back out and tiff was right!


This is/was on the new 2006/7 TT - so might not work on the old MK1's but worth a try.


Good luck.