a motor control system is provided for field - oriented control of an electric motor for driving a vehicle . the motor control system includes a current setpoint creator , which is designed to receive a torque setpoint as an input signal and to output a torque - creating current setpoint and at least one field - creating current setpoint as output signals in order to control the electric motor in a field - oriented manner . an exceptional situation detection device detects a present torque setpoint , calculates a change based on the present torque setpoint and an earlier torque setpoint , and detects an exceptional situation if the magnitude of the change exceeds a specified threshold value . the motor control system is designed to adapt the torque - creating current setpoint based on the present torque setpoint when the exceptional situation is detected , thereby bypassing the current setpoint creator .