Nicky_do_it

I jumped out into traffic expecting that I could easily accelerate in front of it when ESP kicked in and my car felt like it died. It was as if my transmission was disconnected. I thought I was going to get hit from behind and admittingly it would have been my fault. Luckily traffic was not moving very quickly. I thought it was strange that my tires didn't feel like they even spun. If they did, it was very little to trigger such a response. I tried recreating that moment on a side street without traffic of course. The ESP seems especially sensitive. With ESP on, full acceleration from a stop immediately gets impeded and the car almost shut down. With ESP off, the tires grip very well with very little spin. I may leave it off for good. I've had traction control on several other cars but the interference was never this drastic. With traction control, you could feel the gas pedal kicking back so that you are providing less fuel thus less power to the road. ESP just kills the power. Very scary.

Brandonb

This doesn't sound right. I've never experienced such behavior, and I've pushed some hard acceleration corners from a stop several times. Even gotten a little sideways before ESP kicked in, and even then the throttle retardation was slight.

Something else may be amiss. Take it to the dealer or use a VAG-COM to see if any codes are getting thrown.

m444

I was taking off hard, from a stop the other day & the ground may have been a little wet. When the wheels hit the crosswalk paint, the ESP light flashed, with a very short pause, then bam serious violent acceleration. It felt pretty good. So far, my ESP seems to be working pretty well and NOT too intrusive (not like RWD Mercedes for sure).

You should take it to the dealer & get it checked out.

Excelsior7

I'd get that looked at. My RWD 335i does that occasionally, but usually only if I'm turning+accelerating hard from a stop, or it's wet.

An AWD car shouldn't even have that issue. My old STi couldn't spin SNOW tires on dry pavement, and the STi and S4 have similiar performance parameters. (at least in powertrain/weight)

foodplz

+1 What you have described is not what esp is supposed to do. I'd get your car checked out.

sakimano

lots of folks complain about this, and what the OP described is exactly what ESP is designed to do. It doesn't need to wait for tires to spin. If it senses you're about to lose the ability to put torque down, it will kill.

it's the reason many have lobbied for someone to come up with something to automatically turn ESP off, so they don't have to manually do it every time they start the car.

There are two sides

• point - if you need acceleration to get out of a jam, you probably put yourself in harm's way, thus it's your own damn fault
• counterpoint - while that is true, in some understeer situations where you're heading for a wall, power on oversteer to correct the slide would be nice...but is impossible with ESP engaged

All in all, I reckon I'm in camp 'point'...just don't merge or barge in front of traffic unless you've got plenty of space, or plenty of grip

Scotty (UK)

I had this on my old TT but then ESP seemed to quick in before the Haldex meaning it was often caught out with just Front Wheel Drive.

I had it once on m B6 S4 and that was me being stoopid.

Perhaps it actually saved your butt rather than being over sensitive.

Nicky_do_it

I am bringing my car Friday to the dealer to have the S-tronic looked at (see my post regarding "S-troni under full throttle"). I will mention the ESP effect to the dealer also. I will reply back with the outcome.

For both of these issues, it is possible my car is reacting appropriately. It may be about both driver and vehicle safety. If that's the case, the facts are telling me that I am driving too aggressively for the car. That would be a disappointment.

I hope the answer isn't 1)accelerate more slowly or 2)get a manual transmission and turn off the ESP.

m444

Easing into the throttle (finessing the throttle) will reduce the chances of ESP kicking in. Start at 1/8 or 1/4 throttle, then gently get into it harder. This worked also on my old RWD Mercedes when the traction control would kick in so easily.

tgdA4

I've experienced this too. I've floored it when turning into traffic and the car just goes dead for 2 seconds. Pretty scary. In practicality I think this safety feature is actually a hazard at times, leaving you a sitting duck to get hit. I would much prefer a little skid than no power at all.

PS. It's funny, I just had to read the title of this post and I already knew the scenario that he was going to describe.