ESP light goes on when going over speed bumps

[easyMFe]

I've noticed about 30% of the time when I'm going over those terrible plastic-like speed bumps in my neighborhood that my ESP light activates and there is some hesitation/almost grinding sound coming from the rear wheels and transmission. Its like its having trouble dealing with wheels popping over the bump....and it stutters for a second trying to recooperate. I never had this issue in my past cars (all equipped with electronic slip protection), and can't figure out why this is happening. I'm driving an '09 A4 Premium Quattro. Anyone else experienced anything like this?

[Liquid Smoke]

this sometimes happens to me if im going over like a lot of bumps or a really bad road, especially if its raining or snowing, i'll notice my ESP/traction control slip up for a bit, but i've never noticed it on like regular bumps. does this happen to you on only these bumps or like any type of bumps in general? maybe want to get your rear wheels checked around the arms, bushings, etc

[easyMFe]

It doesn't really happen on potholes, or regular sized speed bumps. Its only on this un-godly ABS plastic speed bumps that are screwed into the concrete. Its weird because I don't have much thrust right after the bump, and the car seems to be "catching up" to whatever it making it activate. A little grinding (electronically activated grinding, not like gears grinding) like the car is trying to stabilize itself...and then its fine. Maybe the wheels are coming off the ground for a split second and the car thinks that it needs to shift more of the force to the opposing wheels? Sometimes it happens after the front wheels go over the bump, and sometimes it happens after the back wheels go over the bump. I've noticed that the control arms on these cars are kinda cheapo...could it be that they just need to be tightened or replaced? What kinda wear would I need to look for? Thanks for the response!

[hiwords1]

basically when the ESP activates it brakes the wheel that it detects is traveling too fast but idk if it cuts throttle. i notice the same thing when i have to pull out of a driveway fast and there's some dirt on the ground. idk what you mean about the control arms being cheap though

[easyMFe]

I think I've just had some bad luck with control arms is all...don't mean to assume that they're all cheap. The first B8 I tried to buy had rusted control arms, and the dealer warned me against the purchase. My B7 had terrible shimmy on the highway above 60mph and had to have the control arms replaced. Thanks for the input...its very similar to the dirty driveway scenario, and I bet its normal functionality.

[haroulli]

Happens to me in my old B6 Quattro and my new B8 Front track. It happens mainly when one wheel hits something with a different surface. There is a section on an on ramp with a man hole cover that if you it at speed it will light up the ESP. Also happens when hitting a dip in the road.

[Blake P]

How fast are you going over them? I creep maybe 1-2mph over speedbumps.

[STA4]

Here's a thought, if the speed bumps are considerably large, then the wheels going up, over and down them will have to travel a longer distance over the same time as the other axle. This means that they are actually rotating at different speeds. Perhaps this is causing the false alert.

[easyMFe]

@Blake P...I think its when I'm approaching these speed bumps somewhat more aggressively. When I creep over them super slow the symptoms don't occur.

@STA4...You're description makes sense...it has got to be something like that. It just happened to me a minute ago, and it felt like braking was occurring in the back wheels after the front wheels went over the bump as a semi-aggressive pace. I'm starting to think this is normal functionality, and just that the ESP on our cars is perhaps a bit more advanced or sensitive compared to previous models.

[RcSang3034]

This happens on my '09 A4 3.2 quattro every now and then as well. Usually when I'm going slow through a parking lot and go over a speed bump or other bump in the road.

Try hitting the ESP button once to turn off the ASR. I tried that for a couple weeks and don't remember having the sputtering happen to me. If that doesn't work, hold down the ESP button and that will turn off ESP completely.