A method for identifying unstable driving states is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps: (a) detecting whether the magnitude of a difference between a first value of a driving state variable that is detected by means of a first sensor, and a second value of the driving states variable that is calculated from measured values of at least one further sensor, increases over time, (b) filtering the difference by means of a delay element after it has been established that the difference has increased, (c) comparing the filters difference and the unfiltered difference, and (d) establishing the presence of an unstable driving states when the comparison shows that a deviation between the filtered difference and the unfiltered difference exceeds a predefined threshold value. The method enables an unstable driving state to be identified even when a driving states variable has an offset error which is of the desired size.