Cruise Control Get "Stuck" at 120 Mph

, 4:32 PM EDT

PARIS October 5, 2004; The AP reported that caught in a car that won't slow down: Sounds like a scene from the Sandra Bullock movie "Speed" or a video game, right? A motorist in France claims that is what happened to him Sunday when his cruise control got stuck at 120 miles per hour, forcing police to help clear a route for his crazy ride along a busy highway.

The daily Le Parisien quoted Hicham Dequiedt saying he was overtaking a truck when his Renault Vel Satis started to accelerate with a life of its own. He couldn't cut the ignition, he said, because that make of car has a magnetic card instead of a key.

"It was impossible to slow down! Stomping on the brakes proved pointless, nothing worked. I avoided one car after another by flashing my lights at them," the 29-year-old was quoted as saying.

Dequiedt managed, however, to alert police on his mobile phone. Messages warning other motorists of the danger were flashed up on screens that straddle the highway and over a traffic radio station, Le Parisien said.

Finally, as he was bearing down on a toll booth, Dequiedt said he finally managed to bring the car to a halt -- having raced down some 125 miles of highway between Vierzon and Riom in central France.

"I stomped on the brakes as hard as I could and the car finally stopped," he was quoted as saying.

Renault's press office said Tuesday morning that no spokespeople were immediately available to answer questions. But Le Parisien quoted a skeptical-sounding Louis Schweitzer, boss of the French auto giant, as saying: "As it is described, this incident surprises me and seems very improbable."