Mondeo ESP Function?
Discussion
According to ETIS and the dash display, my recently acquired '59' Mondeo is " With Electronic Stability Control".
In normal driving I've not once seen the ESP light flash. Having taken the car to my local, er, proving ground, I have discovered that the ESP appears to be very different to what I was expecting.
I had ESP on a Mk1 focus about 10 years ago. It was quite intrusive and showed a yellow light when it was intervening. It would certainly step-in in the event of the car sliding -I often switched it off for spirited driving.
When the Mondeo was deliberately provoked into lift-off oversteer there appeared to be no intervention from the ESP (and no light on the dash) and I used the throttle to bring it back into line.
When coming out of a bend in 2nd, the tyres were allowed to spin up. Again, I had expected some intervention from the ESP.
Is this correct? Has ESP improved its discretion in the past decade?
If so, when exactly does the ESP take action? (Should the dash light flash when it is taking action?) I'm not too concerned, as my past 2 cars haven't had ESP (one of which was much faster), I'm just interested.
Cheers
In normal driving I've not once seen the ESP light flash. Having taken the car to my local, er, proving ground, I have discovered that the ESP appears to be very different to what I was expecting.
I had ESP on a Mk1 focus about 10 years ago. It was quite intrusive and showed a yellow light when it was intervening. It would certainly step-in in the event of the car sliding -I often switched it off for spirited driving.
When the Mondeo was deliberately provoked into lift-off oversteer there appeared to be no intervention from the ESP (and no light on the dash) and I used the throttle to bring it back into line.
When coming out of a bend in 2nd, the tyres were allowed to spin up. Again, I had expected some intervention from the ESP.
Is this correct? Has ESP improved its discretion in the past decade?
If so, when exactly does the ESP take action? (Should the dash light flash when it is taking action?) I'm not too concerned, as my past 2 cars haven't had ESP (one of which was much faster), I'm just interested.
Cheers
DoctorX said:
Have a 08 Mondeo, only ever seen the light come on when the wheels are spinning on ice or snow. Perhaps I'm not trying hard enough.
Right.It may well be that Ford have increased the amount of 'slip' before the ESP activates. If so, then this is a good thing in my view, although I do try to drive smoothly these days.
There's a certain little bend by my fiancees were in 2nd the ESP comes on if I am driving enthusiastically. I don't very often mind but on the one or two occasions it has came on.
When the ice/snow/slush was here it was coming on every 10 seconds in the low gears.
On the Focus ST's it comes on all the time so do we either need more power? (yes!) or our ESP's checking?
When the ice/snow/slush was here it was coming on every 10 seconds in the low gears.
On the Focus ST's it comes on all the time so do we either need more power? (yes!) or our ESP's checking?
It does suggest that the 'ESP' parameters have been modified in the past decade to allow for greater 'slip' angle and wheelspin before intervention.
The system on my old Focus 2.0 Zetec ESP certainly behaved differently and intrusively for such a good chassis.
If this is the case, there now seems little need to disable it. It would be interesting to see how effective it now is in the event of a serious loss of grip, although I'm hoping not to experience anything too serious.
The system on my old Focus 2.0 Zetec ESP certainly behaved differently and intrusively for such a good chassis.
If this is the case, there now seems little need to disable it. It would be interesting to see how effective it now is in the event of a serious loss of grip, although I'm hoping not to experience anything too serious.
I finally managed to get the ESP to kick-in.
Tight, right-hand, low speed corner in cold conditions with a lot of gas in an attempt to break traction.
I'm not sure if the ESP helped as I was anticipating the understeer and was busy controlling the car.
If it did 'help' then it has improved massively over the Focus from a decade ago, which didn't tolerate much wheelspin or lateral slip.
Tight, right-hand, low speed corner in cold conditions with a lot of gas in an attempt to break traction.
I'm not sure if the ESP helped as I was anticipating the understeer and was busy controlling the car.
If it did 'help' then it has improved massively over the Focus from a decade ago, which didn't tolerate much wheelspin or lateral slip.
Gassing Station | Ford | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff