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Out of controlled

I write with reference to an incident that occurred whilst driving a brand new MINI. I was driving on the M1 and whilst changing lanes the car lost stability. It felt as if somebody had grabbed hold of the wheel and pulled and pushed it with excessive force from left to right. The rear of the car was moving in opposite directions to the front of the car, the car lost total control. All other road users had to stay well back or speed up to get away and I nearly hit the central reserve as the car tilted at an angle. Fortunately the car did not hit anything and after this heart-stopping moment it began to regain stability, which I believe was down to me. What could have happened? (Please do not give any hint of my identity.)

Asked on 4 September 2010 by Name and address supplied, via email

Answered by Honest John
This happened to me in Morocco at 115mph in an Alfa Spider. I think I must have hit an undulation with one wheel, the car moved, I corrected, but in this circumstance the ESP can work against you and fights you, and you end up with a ‘tank slapper’. The answer in a front drive car is to accelerate hard out of it, but if the car does not have enough power you can't. ESP can also interfere with driver control on snow or ice, as I have experienced on a skidpan. That's the explanation. The EC is about to make ESP compulsory fit on all new cars. It will probably save more lives than it ends. But it will kill some drivers. And after the massive problem with Teves Mk 60 ABS/ESP modules there are grave doubts about its reliability anyway.

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