Conduct a safety drill, have your passenger yell out SWAY!!

[opnspaces]

Emergencies are not planned events that you get to leisurely deal with. They happen unexpectedly and they happen fast. After 30 years towing I had my first and hopefully last one happen last Monday coming home from a camping trip.

I've driven this same route regularly for 39 years without incident. But it had been raining and in Southern California rain means slippery roads. I thought I was being careful by taking a corner at 40 mph that I normally take at 50. All of a sudden the trailer breaks loose and starts to slide wide toward the shoulder. I was able to do two things in the time allotted before I got it back under control. Lift my foot off the accelerator, and loudly (I was driving alone) ask "What the **** just happened?" By that time I was at 35 and the trailer was back behind me where it belonged. Total time, maybe a second or two. It was then and only then that the brake controller emergency lever came to mind. I looked down at the controller and thought "How fast would I really be able to get to it in an emergency?".

So I came up with an idea that I really think anybody who has a brake controller should do. From now on I'm going to ask my passenger to prompt me to try to get to that lever. But with safety in mind under the condition that we must already be completely stopped when they yell.

So at some point on the trip, whether at a stop light, a gas station, when stopped waiting to make a turn, setting the parking brake at camp etc, the passenger loudly yells out the word SWAY! When this happens the driver has to try to get to and apply that lever fast. Heck, thinking about it I might just give the kids carte blanche to yell sway any time they are in the truck, again with the condition that we must be at a complete stop and no more than once per trip, or hour, or day, or week...

I'm sure the first few times will be comical as dad tries to get to the lever too fast and instead punches the steering wheel or the dash and completely misses the controller. But with a bit of practice hopefully I'll calm down and take that extra half second necessary to confidently reach for and apply the lever.

Your thoughts?

[Wild_Bill_888]

Why on earth would you want to apply brakes to trailer tires that are already beyond their friction limit? That simply reduces the lateral restoring force available causing the trailer to swing wider, more likely to hit an oncoming car or a guardrail, tree or boulder.

The best you can do is keep both hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, and try to keep your vehicle pointed down the road, and hope for the best. Apply brakes after the trailer is realigned.

[deltabravo]

I don't have any passengers. 😞

[MitchF150]

I always hit the manual trailer brake control lever when heading out after hitching up, just to make sure it's all working. Of course, not 100%... Just enough to know it's connected and responding. I do this without looking for it either.. So, I do have some sort of muscle memory on it I guess each time I take off with the trailer in tow.. (I don't really want the wife to just yell out "SWAY" while sitting at a stop light! ha, ha...) that's not how stuff happens if you are actively driving and in tune with what your surroundings and what your rig is doing.. Well, at least for me.. 🙂

But, sometimes, just swerving and then giving it some gas works too... Here is what I did when an object popped out of a truck in front of me and I swerved to miss it, I just let off the gas and didn't touch the brakes, nor have any sway in the quick change of lanes either.. Just hit the gas after I got in the other lane to keep traffic from having to slam their brakes when I cut in front of them... Lucky deal all around for sure, but stayed calm and no disaster... 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0EVPUxxMaA

Anyway, good post to just say that anything can happen at anytime, so do whatever works for you and know your rig and how it handles in general..

Mitch

[opnspaces]

I agree with the zero muscle memory part. That's why I'm suggesting the practice. To make it safer I'm suggesting only practicing while at a stop light. Sliding the lever when at a stop really doesn't do anything except maybe put the brakes on a little tighter.

[Terryallan]

BenK wrote:
On my setup, the P3 gets turned on via a touch of the Suburban's brake pedal

A 'touch' enough to turn on the brake light switch, but not enough to develop MC pressure, that would get the TV's brakes involved

That touch tells the controller to send voltage to the trailer brakes...at the preset, which is NOT 100% voltage

The manual lever tells the P3 to send full voltage to the trailer brakes. 100% braking is something NOT to do in your situation...nor lifting off the throttle

Have had the same situation towing from Tahoe back to The SF Bayarea...on a curve that is in the shade, so moist. I drive slow in the mountains and even then, this happens on occasion...just touch the TV's brake pedal enough to turn on the brake light switch and the trailer will have braking at the preset, which will pull the setup straight as the throttle continues to motor on

It is all in the setup...

It is true that the P3, and the original Prodigy can be set to apply trailer brakes with a touch of the service brake. However. That only lasts a nano second, if it does not feel the TV slowing, it will then release the trailer brakes.
It all happens in nano seconds. But may be enough.

[Grit_dog]

And SWAY! doesn’t happen instantly like breaking traction.
It builds over the course of idk how many seconds. Depends on the particular conditions.
Unlike breaking traction and sliding which happens right away, you have some time to find the brake controller if yer trailer gets the wiggles.

[Mike134]

I have ZERO muscle memory or practice recognizing a sway event to "instinctively" reach for the manual brake control to active the trailer brakes in any sort of timely fashion, none of us do unless we get into a sway event every trip to practice. I'm adding the Hayes sway master this spring, I figure it will apply the trailer brakes faster than I ever could.

[ScottG]

Openspaces is correct. You don't want to hit the truck brakes at all but you do want to apply SOME trailer braking. That's why the controller has a variable, manual control - so you can modulate their operation.
OTOH, the few times I've experienced sway the last thing I wanted to do is take one hand off the wheel.

[opnspaces]

True on the Prodigy applying brakes when the brake lights illuminate, mine does that too. But if you think about it, Most people need to take their foot off the accelerator to do a light pres on the brake pedal. Sure some can left foot the pedal. But when caught unaware I'm betting that muscle memory will act faster for most people. At that point people might be more prone to pressing hard on the pedal like in a panic stop. So which would be worse in a sway situation, pressing too hard on the brake pedal, or too hard on the trailer brake lever?

As far as the lever, you bring up a good point. The lever is proportional and brakes harder the more you push it. The idea is probably not to slam the lever fully over to engage the trailer brakes. But rather to apply the lever at some point that applies the brakes, but doesn't just immediately lock up the wheels. Each situation is going to be different. But once you have your hand on the lever, or the pedal you may be able to modulate the brakes better from that point. So maybe the drill should include only applying the brake lever 1/4 to 1/2 press. The idea here being to practice not panicking and instead applying the lever in a controlled manner.

[BenK]

On my setup, the P3 gets turned on via a touch of the Suburban's brake pedal

A 'touch' enough to turn on the brake light switch, but not enough to develop MC pressure, that would get the TV's brakes involved

That touch tells the controller to send voltage to the trailer brakes...at the preset, which is NOT 100% voltage

The manual lever tells the P3 to send full voltage to the trailer brakes. 100% braking is something NOT to do in your situation...nor lifting off the throttle

Have had the same situation towing from Tahoe back to The SF Bayarea...on a curve that is in the shade, so moist. I drive slow in the mountains and even then, this happens on occasion...just touch the TV's brake pedal enough to turn on the brake light switch and the trailer will have braking at the preset, which will pull the setup straight as the throttle continues to motor on

It is all in the setup...