Thread: Sway control
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Old 04-10-2018, 04:29 AM   #7
JRTJH
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Gaylord
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Electronic trailer sway control is often a "misunderstood feature". Some people believe it stops trailer sway by applying trailer brakes, others think it controls trailer sway by applying brake power to individual wheels or individual sides of the trailer. Actually, it doesn't stop trailer sway that way at all. If you think about how trailer brake power is applied, by ONE wire, there's no way to apply power to the left or right side or to individual wheels on the trailer....... Additionally, all of the "tow vehicle trailer sway control devices are designed to work with "all types of trailers". Few (if any) of the light trailers even have braking systems. Some, like our travel trailers, have electric systems, some have surge systems and most under 3500 pounds don't have brakes at all. The "anti-sway systems" built into tow vehicles typically use the rear wheels of the tow vehicle to counter the lateral forces caused by trailer sway, but they can't apply trailer brakes where there is no brake system even in place.

What the Ford system (GM and Chrysler systems are similar) do, is to apply braking power to the individual wheels of the tow vehicle and reduce vehicle engine power. That goes completely against the "conventional logic" that we used years ago of speeding up and applying trailer brakes to "bring the trailer back in line behind the tow vehicle."

This is the way Ford explains it in the 2015 SuperDuty manual: "This feature applies your vehicle brakes at individual wheels and, if necessary, reduces engine power. If the trailer begins to sway, the stability control light flashes and the message TRAILER SWAY REDUCE SPEED appears in the information display. The first thing to do is slow your vehicle down, then pull safely to the side of the road and check for proper tongue load and trailer load distribution."

I completely support sourdough's comments above. Tow vehicle electronic sway control works to "stop sway after it starts".... It's much better to have a quality hitch that controls or prevents sway before it even happens. And, as chuckster57 said, “ better to have it and NEVER NEED IT, than NOT have it and NEED IT”.
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