Something weird happened with my car today and I’m still a bit shaken up.
I was getting off the highway via an exit ramp and accelerated up to around 60 km/h. As I continued to speed up, the EPC light suddenly came on, the car jerked hard, and it wouldn’t accelerate anymore — just completely lost power. Total shock.
Luckily, I was able to pull over safely right there on the ramp. I turned the engine off and waited about 10 minutes. When I restarted the car, the EPC light was gone, and the engine ran again, so I slowly made my way home.
Then — just as I was nearly home — I saw a yellow traffic light and decided to go for it. I accelerated quickly, and boom: EPC came back on, MTK light came on too, and the car jerked again. After that, the EPC light went off on its own, but now the MTK light is still on and won’t disappear.
The car seems drivable for now, but clearly something’s wrong. I haven’t scanned for codes yet, but I plan to check with InCarDoc soon.
Has anyone else experienced something like this? Could this be throttle body, transmission-related, or something with sensors?
Any ideas would really help — thanks in advance!
EPC and MTK indicators light up after acceleration
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Sounds like a throttle body or gas pedal sensor issue to me. I had something very similar — EPC light came on after hard acceleration, and the car basically refused to move. Turned out my throttle body was sticking and the throttle position sensor was out of range.
These things can be intermittent at first, then get worse. When the ECU sees bad throttle input, it throws EPC and cuts power as a safety measure. Definitely scan for throttle-related codes like P2138 or P2101 when you get a chance.
Jerking under acceleration and sudden power loss could also point to ignition coil or misfire issues. On my car, a failing coil pack caused rough running under load, but no obvious codes until I checked deeper.
Sometimes the EPC comes on just because the engine isn’t firing properly — not always throttle-related. Check for codes like P0300–P0304, especially if it happens when the engine is under stress.
That MTK light staying on after the EPC goes away sounds transmission-related to me. If you're driving a DSG or Tiptronic, it could be an issue with the transmission control module TCM, or even just a sensor out of sync after the EPC fault.
I had something similar where the EPC triggered a “safe mode” in the gearbox — MTK came on and stayed until I cleared the faults manually. If the TCU - transmission control unit senses any irregular input like bad throttle data, it can trigger MTK too. Look for codes in the P17xx or U010x range when scanning.
Based on everything you described — and the other replies above — it really sounds like your car is reacting to a chain of related issues. The first warning EPC usually points to something like a throttle body malfunction, a faulty gas pedal sensor, or even ignition misfires. The jerking and sudden loss of power you experienced when the EPC came on are exactly what the system is designed to do: cut power to protect the engine.
Then, when the MTK light came on after the second acceleration, that likely means your transmission control module TCM received confusing or invalid data from the engine — like throttle angle or torque request - and triggered a fault of its own. What’s common in these situations is that EPC will go off once the engine returns to normal readings, but the MTK light stays on because the TCM stored a separate fault that hasn’t been cleared.
Since the lights are coming and going, I’d say the problem isn’t totally critical yet - but it’s definitely progressing. I’d highly recommend running a scan using InCarDoc with your OBD2 adapter. It’ll show not just active errors, but also stored and pending codes, which are super important in cases like this. Those hidden codes often reveal what actually triggered the chain of events. If your car supports it, check the freeze frame data too - that’ll tell you the exact conditions when the faults occurred.
Most likely you’ll see a combination of errors: maybe something with the throttle, boost pressure, ignition, or even a basic electrical glitch. Once you scan and see the exact codes, the picture will become a lot clearer - feel free to share the results here, and I or others can help walk you through what they mean.
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Yeah man, that sounds super familiar. I had almost the same thing happen in my A3 - EPC light out of nowhere, big jerk, no power, then it just resets after a restart.
I used InCarDoc to scan for codes and found it was something with the throttle pedal sensor. It wasn’t completely broken, just sending weird signals sometimes, especially when I floored it.
If your MTK light is still on, there’s probably a stored code even if the car feels okay. Definitely scan it - InCarDoc is great for that. Could be a simple fix like a sensor or loose connector, but yeah, best to check it before it gets worse.
