The first Hayes trailer brake controller was invented by The Kelsey Hayes Company in Detroit Michigan in the 1950’s. These original trailer brake controllers were hydraulic over electric and required a direct tie in to the tow vehicle’s air or hydraulic braking system. In the 1970’s the technology moved to the proportional electronic brake controller with Hayes again leading the way.
Today’s trailer brake controllers have evolved into safer and smarter systems to adapt to today’s towing needs. The company has built a 60-year legacy of making sure when dealers recommend Hayes products, that they can do so with confidence. All of the company’s electronic controller models all have the ‘quik-connect®’ feature to make installation on the tow vehicle easy and practically error-free, plus it eliminates the need to ‘hard-wire’ the brake control to the tow vehicle. Hayes controllers have an exclusive four-wire connector that when used with a vehicle-specific wiring harness enables the brake controller to essentially be plugged in and ready to go.
Other Hayes-specific features include how the controllers activate the trailer stop lights when the brake control is manually activated. Hayes believes this is the critical safety benefit dealers should emphasize to their customers. Additionally, our controllers, in a manual application, would ramp to 100 percent power. Our competitors would ramp only to preset power, which means if you get in a panic situation our controllers will deliver full braking power.
Hayes Towing Electronics was acquired by Hopkins Manufacturing Corporation in October 2023, adding to Hopkins® market leading line of towing electrical products, Hopkins Towing Solutions. HopkinsTowingSolutions.com
Going back to 1953, our founders used the concept of “The Image of Difference.” It was a simple yet powerful idea that encouraged us to make everything we do better than it had been done before. Over the course of more than six decades, Hopkins Manufacturing Corporation has grown into a global company with market leading positions in a number of product categories. Yet across all our locations and products, it is the thread of this philosophy that holds together everything we have become and everything we do.
Hopkins® together with the Hayes Towing Electronics brand will continue to lead the field in design, quality, and performance. See all of the products Hopkins® has to offer: HopkinsMfg.com
