Trailer sway is one of the most dangerous things that can happen when you are hauling a trailer behind your truck or SUV. Essentially, trailer sway is exactly what it sounds like. It’s when the trailer drifts or sways back and forth, oftentimes out of the lane it is supposed to be in. This can cause accidents and is enough to turn someone off camping entirely and make them wonder how to tow safely. Luckily, there are different devices that can help to reduce or limit trailer sway.
The most important reason to reduce trailer sway is that your vehicle isn’t the only vehicle on the road. If your trailer drifts into another lane you could easily crash into another car, resulting in vehicular damage, personal injury, and higher insurance rates. It can also lead to loss of property if the sway is extreme enough that objects are actually thrown off the trailer. This is made more possible by a roofless trailer, commonly hitched for small businesses like landscapers.
In other cases, if your speeds are high enough or your weight isn’t distributed properly, this can also cause the trailer to roll over. When your trailer rolls, so will you. Severe winds or icy roads can easily exacerbate this potential issue of towing a trailer. No matter the case, controlling trailer sway comes down to safety.
There are a couple of different types of trailer sway devices, which can be used to making hitching a trailer safer. There are those that look to prevent sway from occurring and those that look to limit it once it has occurred. Primarily, what you’ll see is are electric brakes for trailers or electric trailer brakes. These are essentially small devices added to the trailer which will control trailer sway by actually sensing that sway occurring and braking to prevent it. There are also variations of electric brakes for trailers that can be manual or automatically operated. Electronic brake controllers are also used to brake for the trailer, which come in several different styles. The right electronic brake controller for you comes down to preference.
It’s simply not safe to hitch a trailer without fixing trailer sway, which is why electric brakes for trailers are so important. There are a lot of ways to avoid trailer sway besides these devices as well, such as limiting the load capacity and not driving in windy conditions. However, it’s incredibly important to install a trailer sway device, such as electric brakes for trailers, and get the best brake controller for you, to ensure that you experience as little sway as possible.
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