Dynamically detecting off-track errors in a disk drive by adjusting transducer head position control parameters in response to shock events. In an embodiment, shock events with large magnitude trigger a severe shock timer which lengthens the write fault before write operations resume. In another embodiment, a lower shock threshold is used following an initial shock event. In yet another embodiment, a lower shock threshold is used if an accumulated average position error of the transducer head is large.