Vehicle control device

A vehicle control device configured to execute deceleration control for automatically decelerating a vehicle for an object that is present in a direction of travel of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle control device is configured to

• execute the deceleration control such that a start timing of the deceleration control and a deceleration-related value that changes due to the deceleration control satisfy a restriction condition, and
• when a specific condition is satisfied, ease the restriction condition compared to when the specific condition is not satisfied, the specific condition being a condition that a traffic congestion or a traffic congestion-causing event has occurred within a predetermined distance from the vehicle in the direction of travel, the traffic congestion-causing event being an event that causes the traffic congestion.