Cruise Control problems of the 2004 Saturn VUE

I have a Saturn Vue 2004, blue. On Saturday Dec 11, merging onto I-495 east at exit 31, I accelerated sharply and steadily; 'pedal all the way down. ' the cruise control was on but not engaged. I'm not sure whether it was tapped or not during the acceleration, but I did not intentionally engage it. Regardless, when I removed my foot from the accelerator, I did not experience a relief of acceleration. It is my belief that the pedal stayed loose, relatively. I tried the brake - it slowed the acceleration but did not stop it. I tried the accelerator to loosen it. I applied the brake in a sustained fashion. I was currently going ~80 mph, faster than intended. At this time, I moved onto the shoulder, to the right, shifted into neutral and turned on the blinkers. The engine raced and the tachometer was high. I braked to about 40-50 mph. I noticed the cruise control system was on, and turned it off. The engine stopped racing and I was able to slow a bit more. Once I was sure the vehicle was under control, I shifted into drive, deactivated the blinkers, regained speed, merged off the shoulder and continued to my destination. I have had no further problems.

1) and 2) while traveling at high speeds (>60 mph) on the highway, with cruise engaged, periodically the cruise will fail to disengage. On several occasions (at least 5) while driving, and needing to slow down (e. G. To exit the highway, or for slow traffic ahead), the brake is pressed and there is resistance at the pedal and the cruise will not shut off/car attempts to accelerate, which on two occasions has led to a near-accident. On one occasion it also failed to shut off at the steering wheel for several attempts. 3)nothing was done to correct the failure as it could not be duplicated at the dealership and Saturn refuses to replace the part under warranty unless they are able to demonstrate evidence of failure. I have been instructed I would have to replace the parts out of my own pocket but there is no guarantee it would resolve the malfunction since they can't figure out what is causing it.