2005 Mercury Sable V6 accelerates on its own!

I've had this car since November - it's a hand-me-down. My Mom said it happened to her once, but she assumed she'd hit the cruise control (as I did the first time it happened).

This has happened 3 times since then. Occasionally, the acceleration goes completely out of control...the RPMs and Speed keep climbing, and I have difficulty braking. All 3 times, I was able to brake hard to bring the speed down to 1-2 mph...then I had to slam it into park and turn off the car. When I restarted it, everything was fine.

The first time, I thought I'd somehow hit the cruise control on the steering wheel as I was turning, so I dismissed it. But then it happened again when a light turned red-green...then the third time last week when I was on the Beltway doing 70 mph!!!

I'm afraid to drive now, in case I'm not able to brake next time (my 4 year old rides in this car with me). My coworker says it sounds like my cruise control and offered to disconnect it for me. I never use it, anyway, but I have no idea whether that could interfere with anything else (like airbags, etc.)?

Money is a huge issue, so I figured I'd ask here to see if anyone else has had this problem and found a fix...that may be less expensive than letting a dealer play around with guessing games.

Anyone? Please?

Why not let your friend disable the cruise control? That's the only thing on the car that can accelerate the car on it's own. It won't hurt the airbags because it's on a separate circuit.

Does your car have an electronic throttle body (no throttle cable)? My 2005 F-150 does and they have been known to stick - usually causing the engine to stall, but could potentially cause a wide open throttle condition which would cause the car to accellerate. The throttle plate in my F-150 loosened up where it pivots and got stuck on the front of the throttle bore.