I was driving on the highway 12/04/2014 with cruise control active going about 75 mph. a truck in front of me became too close because he was going slower. my car began accelerating and i hit the brake to slow down, and de-activate the cruise control. however nothing happened and my mini-cooper continued to accelerate and i hit the rear end of the truck. i used the cruise control on/off and turned off the cruise control and i stopped accelerating. i changed lanes to pull over, however i had no brakes. i exited the highway as there was a big hill, however with no brakes i went flying through an intersection while honking my horn, and through the red light. the only option was back on the highway after the light and i eventually slowed down and then used the emergency brake to stop. i really panicked and thought i was going to die. the truck had no damage, however the mini-cooper got a dent on the hood. this also happened briefly about a month ago, where i hit the brake and my mini continued to accelerate while in cruise control, however when i turned off the cruise control that time, the brakes were fine and i had a close miss of rear ending another car. in hindsight i should have put my 6 speed in neutral or turned off the car. at the time, these options didn't come to me in a panicked state. *tr
The thermostat failed, the temperature elevated, the freeze plug fell out/broke out of place causing the head gasket to blow out. the coolant leaked into the oil and caused it to become "milky" therefore blowing out my engine. i was driving on the freeway at the time of the incident and the car failed to accelerate. luckily people were kind enough to let me pass from the far left lane to the nearest exit and i did not crash. *tr