In a vehicle control system performing collision avoiding control when a collision with a preceding vehicle cannot be avoided by normal running condition control, driving safety is improved by prompting a driver to intervene in the vehicle's control in a reliable manner. When a set switch is turned on in the "cancel" state, the transition to the "in-control, inter-vehicle distance control" sub-state occurs and an inter-vehicle distance control is performed. If a collision with a preceding vehicle cannot be avoided by the inter-vehicle distance control (if the collision alarm flag XA=1), transition to the "in-control, collision alarm" sub-state occurs and a collision alarm is generated. If the acceleration required for avoiding collision is further increased (if the collision avoiding control flag XC=1), the state transits to the "in-control, collision avoiding control" sub-state, and a collision avoiding control is performed.