Some systems, in spite of having multiple outputs, have only one control input, which makes their control a challenge. Two novel controllers are proposed that utilise an adaptive finite-time sliding mode control (AFSMC) scheme for a class of single-input multiple-output (SIMO) nonlinear systems in the presence of unknown mismatched uncertainties. To alleviate the inherent chattering phenomenon of sliding mode control, new forms of the two designed controllers are suggested by using new sliding surfaces. Not only can the proposed AFSMC scheme stabilise the system in a finite time, but also it can provide estimated data of the uncertainty upper bound in the controller. Lyapunov stability theory is used to obtain finite-time stability analysis of the closed-loop system. Finally, simulation results are carried out in Simulink/MATLAB for a four-dimensional autonomous hyper-chaotic system with mismatched uncertainties as an example of SIMO uncertain nonlinear systems to reveal the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.