Close call! Driver loses control of vehicle at 120km/h for 1 hour on Chinese highway

A Chinese man has just had the most heart-in-mouth drive of his life after his Mercedes Benz went from “cruise control” to “cruise out-of-control” for nearly an hour on a highway at 120km/h.

Mr. Xue was on a cross-province drive alone from Henan to Sichuan on Wednesday evening when he discovered that his Benz C200L, which he had set on cruise mode earlier, couldn’t be slowed or stopped, according to a local media report.

“Nothing worked except the steering wheel,” said Xue, who tried the brake and the gear shifter to no avail.

Trapped in the vehicle and cruising at 120km/h, Xue call Benz service staff several times for help, but none of the solutions suggested were able to return the car back to manual driving mode.

He then called the police, who quickly cleared the way for him just moments before the car soared past a toll station. The police were also unable to help stop the vehicle.

During a tense time of waiting and praying, Xue, an amateur car racer himself, tried opening the car door slightly to help slow the car down, which slowed to 60km/h, but nothing else could be done. He thought about rear-ending a large truck or scratching the car against the roadside barrier, but gave up the plans for being too risky.

Good news finally came after the car had run loose for 100 km, when Benz service was at last able to control the vehicle remotely. It was then safely parked and towed off the highway.

According to Xue, he has been told by the company that this problem has ever occurred before with their vehicles, and that inspections will be carried out to determine the reason for the malfunction.