I have been reading this stuff for the year I have owned my Jeep but wanted to hear what others thoughts were on the ESP portion of our vehicles. I was driving about 55 mph down a local road (55 speed limit) and water tends to lay on the roads around here. Well people like to race on this road and act like idiots around here so this truck things he cool and speeds up to catch up to me after sitting at a light. We had rain earlier in the day and water sits on tx roads due to drainage issues and lack of storm sewers. I was on the right side and he was on the left side of a 4 lane road. we were both neck and neck going west. He new I had to slow to miss the deep puddle but I wasnt paying attention to how deep it was. I hit the puddle laying off to the side of the road and it threw the jeep RIGHT pulling the jeep almost off the road. I turned hard left to gain control and the Jeep started flashing the dash ESP light. The Jeep braked Hard on the left when i hit the puddle and right when i steered to correct. It was so squirlly that I am sure that I would have hit the truck to my left and rolled the Jeep. It was like the Jeep drove itself. I could not believe how well the electronics worked.

Although our Jeeps are hated for these safety features off road, on road you should not disable them. They are there for your safety when you are driving for the conditions of weather, bad drivers, or in some casese (me) acting like an idiot. I know I should have slowed and it was my fault to get into the situation but we have all been there with other drivers and the temptations to overtake someone that is being a jerk.

So take it for what its worht but our ESP is awesome. It is full featured and impressive in my opinion. I put this together to give you an idea of what the esp does.

Electronis Stability Program ESP includes:
-Anit Roll Mitigation ARM
-Brake Locking Differential BLD
-Traction Control System TCS
-Anti Lock 4 Wheel Disk Brakes ABS

 

It's good to hear that your Jeep saved you from yourself (believe me, I'm in company with you on that one). Now if only there was some sort of "common sense" option we could order through the dealership, that would keep us from putting ourselves in those situations!

 

I hear you buddy. Thing is, you're never gonna convince the electronics haters that it's a good thing. Not in a million years. Glad you didn't have an accident.

 

You forgot the BAS (I think that's what it is) it works along with the ABS in emergency braking situations....check it out in the owner's manuel. I only found that Jk's have this because my ESP/BAS light came on because my alignment was so off....

 

Brake Assist System/Steering is Part of the Anti roll mitigation. It keeps you driving straight by steering the vehicle through independent left and right braking.

Jeep, Mercedes, VW have this feature. I believe its a German engineering thing. Remember our Jeeps used to German owned.

 

i used to be one, I thought power locks and windows on a jeep were stupid. UNTIL I got one with all the electronics I could find when ordering my Jeep. I love this wrangler. Best one ever built. Lockers, 4:1, ESP/BAS, power convience group, windows, locks, safety security system. BEST JEEP EVER! Oh and they didnt put an IFS in it like we were all fearing 3 years ago.

 

Thanks, I still think the agression factor was more in the guy that owned the truck. I am not from TX and water never sat on any road I grew up on. On the flip side I can drive in the worst snow storm where the rest of these TX peeps would be stranded.

 

Last week I was in Northern MN in some of the iciest conditions I've ever seen. The ESP/traction control was invaluable in these conditions, and due to it my Unlimited handles better in 2wd out on the ice than my old WJ did with Quadra Trac II.

 

I know what you mean. I was just out in SoCal and drove up into the snowy Laguna Mtns. The drivers there were all over the road. Pulled out two ourselves, we did. On the return trip ran into some pretty icy roads along I-10 and crossing the heart of NM on Hwy 54. I recall thinking, as my son was driving, that I knew there was some pretty competent electronics there to bail him out should he get into trouble (which he did not). Glad your incident turned into little more than a lesson learned.

BTW: Mentioning Texas and sewers in the same sentence is just too easy. At least to someone who has lived in Oklahoma for the past 25 years.