The light on my dash - yellow triangle with the circle - indicating that my ESP is activated turns on without cause and stays on until I shut my engine off and turn the engine on again. I have noticed that I lose the ESP capability when this happens. I also noticed that my cruise control doesn't work when this happens.
What can it be? Fuses?

 

If the light is not blinking, and is solid, means that your ESP is disengaged and not working... Brake switches are a common failure, possibly your MAF, or your steering angle sensor could be the potential cause. I'll let someone else answer the cruise control problem... not sure what that could be related to.

 

Mike
Thanks very much for your reply. I am a newbie and do not understand what brake deities, or maf or Steering sensor. Can you elaborate.

 

The brake light switch is located under your dash, it has to do with the brake lights turning on I believe, the MAF measures the flow of air into your engine, the steering angle sensor is a part of the ESP system that takes your steering angle properly in order to engage in situations where you lose control of the car. Basically what you need to do right now is to find out the problem using VAGCOM which can be done at shops.. brake light switch and the MAF isn't expensive to replace, the steering angle sensor, you're looking around 400$ in parts.

(These three could be your potential problems but the electronics in these cars are really complicated and they can only be assessed by using VAGCOM)

 

Get someone with a Vag-Com to diagnose it and give us some error codes, as we can guess all day long without a scan

 

I "think" that the cruise won't engage when ESP is not working as a safety feature. It would make sense. As stated, get a vag com scan done. I don't think there is any way it could be your maf or brake light switch though.

 

Thanks to all!