Citroen Xsara 2.0i 2004 automatic braking

[Xsara Driver1]

I was driving today and the conditions were wet and cold (2 °C)(not raining at the moment), after yielding i accelerated quickly to about 60/70 km/h and the car started braking by itself and it flashed a red triangle sign with an exclamation mark in the middle. I then let of the gas and the car stopped decelerating after dropping the speed to around 45-50km/h. Traction control (ESP) was on and i didn't feel like i was loosing traction. The car also has no parking sensors or proximity sensors of any kind.What could this be? Was some kind of safety feature activated since i was basically flooring it or was it some kind of malfunction?

 

[paul.h]

This is just a guess: ESP might have been activated if the car thought one of the wheels was skidding/not turning at the same speed as the others. If the wheels were not doing this then maybe you need to check if all the tyres are the same and equally worn but not too worn and if the abs sensors are in good order. If the car was showing the outside at 2°C then it is possible there may have been some ice on the road. If you have the hand book have a look to see what the red triangle symbol means.

[Xsara Driver1]

11 hours ago, paul.h said:

This is just a guess: ESP might have been activated if the car thought one of the wheels was skidding/not turning at the same speed as the others. If the wheels were not doing this then maybe you need to check if all the tyres are the same and equally worn but not too worn and if the abs sensors are in good order. If the car was showing the outside at 2°C then it is possible there may have been some ice on the road. If you have the hand book have a look to see what the red triangle symbol means.

Tyres are almost brand new. I have the hand book but its in french.

[paul.h]

In the handbook for our 2007 C5 for the ESP it says in the event of loss of control by the driver it acts automatically on one or more brakes and also the engine to bring the vehicle back on trajectory and will light up the ESP warning lamp at the same time. If the ESP light does not go off then it indicates a fault.

A search on red triangle warnings suggests this indicates a fault and that you have to look elsewhere to see what the fault could be. If it stays on then it needs looking at so for a quick flash it probably means there is no need to worry unless it keeps happening.

I would for now see if it happens again when it is not as cold since it may be the road was a bit slippy without you realising.

A quick look on ebay shows there are used Xsara handbooks available if you want one.