[Desserper]

Wife got a couple of warning lights on the Ion yesterday. When she got home I checked them out and it was the two ESP/ASR system lights that were on as a fixed light (not flashing).

Funnily enough this morning they are now off.

So checked the manual - see attached photo.

ESP - Electronic Stability Programme
ASR - Anti-Slip Regulation

The manual just says have it checked by Dealer if fixed. If flashing it says "the systems optimise traction and improve the directional stability of the vehicle. Adapt your driving and moderate your speed".

Anyone been honing around in their Ion perhaps or flying around corners and roundabouts and seen these lights? Anyone else got experience of them?

 

[DBMandrake]

If the light is on constantly the most likely cause would be a wheel speed sensor fault.

The wheel speed sensors are shared between the ABS and ESP/ASR systems, so it’s likely ABS braking would not have been working at the time either.

The only way to know for sure would be to get the fault codes read. This would be done with Diagbox/Lexia. I’m not sure that generic OBD-II readers would work with an EV even with a wheel speed sensor fault that in theory is identical to what you would find on an ICE.

 

[Desserper]

I have been diving around fine with no warning lights for the last week or so. Then yesterday my wife takes the Ion to work, but has slept in and hoons it there. Despite being on a full battery and only doing a 40m commute, she had to stop for a charge on way home. And it had the ESP/ASR warning lights on again when she got home.

So I drove it around a bit last night, and the warning lights were away. Seems to be the way she drives puts the lights on, it only happens when she drives the car.

Is it her driving, or is it just her driving style highlights a background problem more that perhaps needs checked out? I wonder...

 

[Grumpy-b]

Could be a 12v issue, work out what your wife has on that you dont. if you have a 12v / cig lighter socket, then get a simple 12v voltage meter that plugs into these sockets (not a lot of £ on ebay 12V-24V LED Digital Car Auto Cigarette Lighter Voltage Meter Volt Monitor Safety | eBay ), you can then simply look at that and see what the 12v supply is doing when the lights come on.

 

[Desserper]

The 12v would never have even crossed my mind with this. I will ask her if she is using the Bluetooth or got anything plugged in. Will get one of those gadgets you suggest which did not even know existed either.

 

[Desserper]

Was driving the car around more yesterday than have been recently, and I left the house with no warning lights. Did a 30M trip. Done shop shopping. Turned car on to go home and the ESP-ASR lights came on again (not flashing), just static lights. Stayed on for whole journey home. Got home turned car off. Turned car straight back on expecting to see warning lights, and they were off.

Weird right? And I was not driving fast or wildly, it was pretty much sedate sad extreme BEV'r type of driving.

 

[DBMandrake]

You're going to have to get it put on a Lexia to find out for sure what's happening.

My money is on a broken but still intermittent wheel speed (ABS) sensor cable. Very common problem on all cars (I've replaced several ABS sensors across a number of cars over the years) so I don't see why an EV would be immune.

 

[Desserper]

Silly question perhaps, but is there any safety issues with that type of problem?

 

[DBMandrake]

Silly question perhaps, but is there any safety issues with that type of problem?

Technically yes.

If it's a permanently faulty wheel speed sensor and the light is staying on solid it means you will very likely not have any ABS, (anti-lock braking) traction control or ESC (electronic stability control) as all those systems rely on the wheel speed sensors.

So if you slam on the brakes hard you'll probably find you can lock the wheels and without any ABS action. Lack of traction control is not really an issue on an Ion since it has so little power, the only time you would notice that is accelerating on full lock where the inside rear wheel might spin, or accelerating on snow/ice.

Lack of ESP could theoretically allow the car to fishtail if you floored it around a wet roundabout, as the ESC will reign in the power and differentially apply brakes if it detects the car is rotating in that fashion. But unlikely to happen unless you're driving like an idiot or you hit a patch of ice.

So if you drive normally and conservatively you'd be relatively OK, but your emergency braking distance wouldn't be great.

It should be noted that both traction control and ESC can be manually disabled by the driver by pressing the ESC button for 5 seconds, (The one next to the headlight elevation switch) however you can't normally disable ABS.

I wouldn't freak out about it but I would drive more conservatively and avoid getting yourself into dangerous situations where you might need emergency braking or might be prone to losing control of the car until it's fixed. In other words, don't drive like a rally driver...