Cruise Control problems of the 2008 Ford F-250

While towing a 10,000 pound 5th wheel trailer I needed to speed up to merge into the left lane. The truck was on cruise control set at 50 mph. I stepped down and entered passing gear. After the merge I let off the throttle but the truck continued to accelerate in passing gear. I stepped on the brakes but the cruise control would not release and the truck continued to accelerate. I tried repeatedly to disengage the cruise using the brakes. I then pressed the cruise control "off" button repeatedly to no avail. At this point I pressed and held the brake pedal as hard as I could while the diesel engine continued to race at max power. I was able to slow to about 30 mph before the engine started to overcome the fading brakes. At this point I turned the key off and coasted to a stop. I tried to restart the engine twice and it immediately started at max throttle and I immediately turned the key off. I called Ford for a tow. After about 20 minutes I tried to restart the engine and it started normally so I cancelled the tow. The truck seems to be working normally and cruise also works normally. I haven't tried to enter passing gear while in cruise and won't as this incident almost cause me to have a catastrophic accident. I plan to take the truck to the dealer to be analyzed. This was a major safety problem and could easily have caused a fatal accident.

The cruise control failed to turn off. After several hours of highway driving with the cruise control turned on, I was not able to turn the cruise control off by using the cruise control on/off switch or by braking. The truck accelerated when the brakes were applied. After several attempts to turn the cruise control off it finally turned off by braking.