Seems that the ASC failed, which is just a different name for ESP. There has been widespread failure of a valve in the ESP modules of VAG cars, small BMWs, Mazda 3s, Volvo C30/S40/V50, costing owners up to £2,000 for replacement, sometimes swallowed by the dealer and manufacturer, often not. These are all Teves Mk 60 ABS/ESP modules. There have also been a few cases of the same problem on the Ford Focus and Nissan Micra. VAG insists on replacing the entire ABS/ESP module. But British firm, ECU Testing (ecutesting.com/vw_golf_touran_abs_pump_module.html), offers a repair and it now appears that BMW approves a similar repair to just the ESP section of the module. It seems to me that ESP, now being legislated into all new cars by the EC for safety reasons, is not a reliable component and a significant percentage suffer failure after 3 – 5 years. VOSA that is tasked to look after the motorist in such cases, has taken the side of the manufacturers and refused to issue a vehicle safety recall. So, as with diesel particulate filters, we are being forced to buy cars with under-developed components that rapidly fail.