Cruise Control Out of Control!

When the Cruise Control is on and I hit the “resume” the engine keeps accelerating; it does not stop accelerating at the previously set speed.

Year, make and model of your car?

We need the info that @jesmed commented on to make a better diagnosis. Some vehicles have the “resume” and “accelerate” on the same control…you just go left or right. My Dakota has this arrangement and I’m having the same problem intermittently. I think the accelerate is sticking when the resume is activated. I’m now using the “set” control which is basically doing the same thing as the resume control…except it’s not the exact speed that I originally set. I can live with that until I have time to remove the switch and check it out.

A reasonable first guess is that the resume button sticks. See if it pops back out after being pressed, or if you can pry it out. If so, you have located the problem.

With that wealth of info given, my suggestion is DO NOT use the cruise control. Problem solved, no matter what make,model, engine, or even year!

OldtimeGuitarPicker, I’m a 42 year bass player…irrelevant but…
I also vote for sticking button.
people clean the outside surfaces of their interiors yet stuff ( including cleaner ) has run down in over the years.
A proper internal cleaning is an involved process requiring complete component disassembly.

I do this for some items we resell and is why a refurbished used part is not dirt cheap.

  • one of our repo guys had a sticky heater a/c control and bought a new one. I disassembled the face, knobs, buttons, circuit sheet, etc and cleaned the coke goo out of all of it. reassembled, tested and boxed for resale.
  • One customer spilled forward onto their face panel of control buttons( in a wreck )…cleaned the outside as good as new and could not understand why they still had a million electrical glitches. The insurance paid for a new panel so during the shop work I dissassembled the layers of panel, ciruit boards, and buttons and showed the amazed customer the goo that shorted everything to confusion. that one was not resellable.

cleaning is the key for at least half of the ‘‘repairs’’ people bring to my workbench.

The only time I use my cruise control is on a local 2 mile 25 mph speed zone. In my little (9,000 population) town enforcement has nothing to do with public safety, It is only revenue. You can receive a speeding ticket for 27mph in a 25mph zone. Or 22mph in a 20 mph zone! I am very careful with my speed. If you take it to court it is futile. It is a revenue generator nothing else!

@sgtrock21 … I’m a little confused here. Most cruise control systems will not operate until you get to cruising speed which is around 50mph or so. What year, model and make of vehicle do you drive?