It's weird reading about all these people having problems with their esp. I guess I just drive my Jeep like an old man now. I can understand turning esp off on sports cars but on a Jeep or an SUV? If you have to turn into a slide, you're probably going too fast for the turn. If your esp is turning on while on cloverleaf on/off ramps, you're probably going too fast. ESP is there to help if you're driving normally (speed limit) and you had to perform an evasive manuever and it corrects you over compensating. If you're driving like a mad man down the road, you have other problems.

Like I said, I've turned my esp off on my sports cars (S2000 and Evo) because it hinders performace. I keep mine on in my Jeep because it's not a race car, it's an off-road vehicle that I drive in the streets.

 

There's a difference between operator error and a willful disregard to the vehicle's safety features. Not wearing a seatbelt is not operator error and I'm sure they won't pay for injuries incurred by not wearing a seat belt.

 

Over the years I've read a few stories to this basic effect on this forum. A paraphrase of George Carlin's famous quip about other drivers comes to mind: "There are two kinds of people in this world. The idiots who want more electronic safety controls in their vehicles, and the maniacs who want to turn it off!"

 

I agree. I've had my Jeep for over four years, have been through various configurations of tires and lifts and control arms and track bars and so on, and I'm really pushing the Jeep hard to get the ESP light to turn on. In fact, I bet I haven't seen an ESP light since my son graduated high school, and he's now a senior at Oklahoma. And that was only because there was a very sharp turn near his live-in high school (Oklahoma School of Science and Math) and so I purposefully pushed it very hard when making that turn. ESP would kick on.

 

How about this then: A jeep T-bones a mini van full of kids. IT would have been able to stop but the owner had 37" tires and stock brakes making the stopping distance way more than stock. And to make the situation worse instead of normal plastic bumpers he had HD steel. Maybe we should all lower out jeeps and put the stock bumpers back on. And also use the appropriate tires on the street. Not mudders.

If you ESP has saved your life, then you were driving too fast and not paying attention. Or you suck as a driver.

 

I wouldn't put it past a lawyer to argue that in a civil case.

 

this thread reminds me of the ones in the winter that go something like this:

-How fast can I go and shift into 4wd?...
-I shift into 4wd at 60 mph in the snow all the time.....
-If you can go that fast, you don't need 4wd....
-No way, i need it to change lanes on the highway when there is 6 inches of snow on the road and I'm doing 60.....
-Well, don't make any sharp turns then...
-I never have to make sharp turns, I know how to drive....





carry on, the "my oil is better than your change interval" threads are dull this week.

 

They can be nasty things!

Back to the original premiss of the thread... There's only so much we can do to protect ourselves from ourselves.... Eventually we have to take responsibility for our own actions and stop relying on technology to compensate for our own stupidity... I guess I see it as survival of the fittest! Lol

 

First one would need to have medical payments coverage on their policy...

Please see where I wrote "policy provisions"

Your insurance policy is a contract between you and the insurer. You should be familiar with it's provisions, if you choose not to read something you sign, you may be sorry later.

You are sure they won't pay for injuries sustained while not wearing your seatbelt because why? You are insurance company exec? You are insurance adjuster? You are an attorney? You have read your policy and are familiar with it's provisions?

Back to topic. If yout turn off your ESP and have an accident, I have little doubt that you will get paid under your comprehensive and if you do damage to others, it will also be paid. Again, whether you have enough limits to indemnify or insulate you is a whole other ball of wax.

I might know a little bit about insurance

 

Yeah, that's easy for you to say until someone else on the road is driving too fast/not paying attention/sucks as a driver and you have to swerve to avoid plowing into him/her and need the help of the ESP to stop you from sliding out or rolling (as SUVs/4X4s have a nasty tendency to do).

In the case I related in my previous post I was in the wrong by not paying attention, but I've also had to hit the brakes & swerve hard a few times to avoid others who have run red lights or changed lanes suddenly without looking, or in one case recently to avoid the steel belt suddenly flung at my windshield from the blown tyre of a passing 22-wheeler when I was on the freeway doing 75MPH. You can be the best driver in the world but you still can't control the behaviour of others on the road.