A vehicle control device having a shift-by-wire system that switches a driving range of a vehicle transmission by inputting a range switching signal to a shift switching device, includes: an abnormality detecting means that detects an abnormality that the shift switching device cannot switch the driving range, of the shift-by-wire system; and a driving force suppressing means that suppresses a driving force of a vehicle when an abnormality is detected in the shift-by-wire system and when a vehicle stop is predicted, and the driving force suppressing means switching a gear stage of the vehicle transmission to a higher-speed gear stage.