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Bulky controllers can crowd the driver’s leg space, but this compact unit is only 1" thick and mounts flush against the dash. You can install it at any angle with the included bracket and hardware, so it fits neatly wherever you have room. The low-profile design keeps the interior clean while keeping all controls within easy reach.
Every trailer tows differently, and this controller gives you full control over how it responds. The orange rocker switch sets gain from 0.5 to 9.9 in 0.5 increments, while the black rocker adjusts load from 1 to 9 to change braking aggressiveness. Fine-tune both settings so your trailer stops smoothly without jerking or locking up, whether you’re hauling light or heavy loads.
When you’re towing day or night, visibility matters. The large LED screen on this controller is bright and easy to read at a glance. You can dim it or activate night mode to cut glare after dark. The display shows all gain and load settings using clear numbers and letters and even gives error messages so you can troubleshoot fast if something’s off.
Installing a brake controller usually means wiring headaches, but this one uses a custom plug-in harness that connects directly to the vehicle’s factory port under the dash. No splicing or hardwiring needed. Once connected, you’re ready to tow—and if you want to transfer it later, just unplug it and move it to another vehicle.
This controller manages up to 4 axles (8 brake assemblies) with consistent, time-delayed braking performance. When you hit the brake pedal, it applies your trailer brakes at a preset rate and intensity based on the gain and load you’ve chosen. It’s compatible with low-volt, PWM, ABS, cruise control, and electric-over-hydraulic brake systems for dependable operation every time you tow.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi, everyone, Aidan here with etrailer. Today, we're gonna be taking a look at the Curt Discovery NEXT Brake Controller. This is gonna be a time-delayed brake controller. Let's check it out. When it comes to brake controllers, there's gonna be two options you're probably looking at, time-delayed and proportional. Proportional is gonna be the nicer of the two where if you lightly press your brakes, the brakes in your trailer are also going to be lightly applied.
If you slam on the brakes, the brakes in your trailer are also going to match that proportionally. With a time-delayed brake controller, it's gonna be applied at the same rate every time, so you don't get that fine adjustment. You can still adjust the settings, but it's gonna be the same every time. So if we're rolling up to a stop sign, coming to a very slow and predictable stop, and our gain and sensitivity are set kinda high, it's gonna be applying the brakes pretty hard. Same for if we have those set kind of low and we slam on our brakes on the highway, because someone in front of us stopped, the brakes aren't gonna be applied in a similar fashion.
There is the manual override you can always pinch to apply, but that's just something to know with a time-delayed system like this. Let's talk about those controls. The manual override is a pinch style where I'm pressing the button with my thumb. It's pretty easy to reach from the driver's seat where I've got it all set up. So whenever I'm driving, I feel like if I needed to suddenly reach down and get it, I can find that pretty easily every time, and index my thumb well enough to get a good press.
So good to know for emergency situations where you might need that. Now, there's gonna be two sets of controls here for the gain and the load. The orange buttons are going to adjust our gain or our brake power. You can go anywhere from 0.5 up to 9.9, and this is going to signify the different power levels. So 0.5 is the weakest, and as I go up, it's going to get more and more powerful.
So if I have a heavier trailer that needs more stopping power, I'd set it higher. The next one is going to be our load. This is basically how quickly the brakes are applied, so that can go from 1 to 9. At 1, it's going to be the lowest, and at 9, it's going to be the fastest or the quickest application. So basically, ramping from zero to fully applied where we have that gain set. So for demonstration, I'm just going to put the gain all the way up to max, and I'm gonna hit the brakes. And you'll see, slowly, it'll climb up to where we set it. And if I turn that load down all the way to 1, it's going to climb much slower to that designated power level. So you can fine tune this to your own trailer application, and depending on how heavy of a trailer you have and how good the brakes are, that will determine what you want those set at. But generally, that gain is going to be for the weight of the the trailer, and you can kinda determine the load from there. Now, to give a visual indicator of that gain, we've got our vehicle hooked up to a trailer simulator box. I've got the gain set to the absolute lowest it goes, so that's gonna be the lowest brake power, and you can see where the voltage is reading right now. If I turn the gain up to 5, that's gonna be right in the middle, you'll see that voltage will climb up higher. And then if I turn it up to the max, 9.9, you'll see that climb up even higher. So this is just to give you some visual indication of that different power level of the braking. This is designed to work with trailers up to four axles and will work with PWM, ABS, cruise controller, and electric-over-hydraulic brakes. So keep that in mind as you're picking this out if it's gonna work with your trailer. Up to four axles, I'd say for the most part, you're gonna be totally fine. If you don't need one that can go up to four axles and you like this style, Curt does make a similar version that's up to three axles. So that's something to keep in mind too if you don't need this much. Now, the big advantage to something like this, and something you probably noticed if you're familiar with brake controllers already, is going to be the size. It's a lot smaller and a lot more shallow than the brake controller we pulled out of this 4Runner today. And that's great, because even though it's mounted externally, it's not going to be in the way of your knees as you're getting in and out of the vehicle. And as I'm in a normal driving position, I've got plenty of distance between it and my leg. I don't feel like I'm gonna be hitting it all the time, 'cause it doesn't stick out very far. That's thanks to the very low profile bracket. We've got it mounted up with the included double-sided adhesive, but you can also use the included self-tapping screws. Just know that they're pretty long, and you're gonna have to have clearance behind there. But this will just click into place over that bracket. (bracket clicking) You can hear that snap in, and that's what holds it in. One thing to note is that because it's not inertia based, you can mount this really wherever it fits best, so it doesn't necessarily need to be level or facing any certain direction. Now, the installation can vary depending on your vehicle. I'd say check for what your vehicle has in terms of pigtail adapters. That's what we we're able to do with this option from Curt. We offer this pigtail adapter on our site here at etrailer, and that allows us to just plug directly into the vehicle's prep package for this. So just check to see if your vehicle can do that, because that's definitely going to be the easiest option as far as installation goes, 'cause it just plugs right in and all you have to worry about is mounting up that bracket, and then tucking up that wire loom from the adapter. Something else to note is that that LED readout does have a number of different functions. You can adjust the brightness, there's a day and night mode, but it's also gonna give us readouts for different errors. So if something's maybe not fully connected or something, it will tell us here. Your instructions give you a full list of all the different errors that can occur and short descriptions of what they are. But because its screen gives full text readouts, it's pretty easy to tell what's going on based on what it's showing. Like for example, when we first hooked this up to our simulator box, we didn't have the 7-way plugged in all the way, and it told us it wasn't connected. So we went back there, pushed the plug in the rest of the way, and then it worked properly. So that's going to help with just troubleshooting anything that may be occurring in your setup. For me, I think this is a nice middle ground between having the controls, easy to access, and having that LED readout, so you can see those errors and the power, and just have a little bit more control over it while still staying out of the way and being flushed to the dash. But that was just our look at the Curt Discovery NEXT Brake Controller. Thanks for watching.
Ratings & Reviews
excellent service and delivery.
Tested . Work fine and advertised
Excellent fit great quality easy install.
Works great easy to mount
Took about 10 minutes to install. Have not made all the adjustments yet, but is easy to understand.
Plug right in no problem!
Its easy to install yourself. Plug in then your all set. No issues.
Makes hooking up controlled super easy
Easy to use. Plug and play!
Plug and Play just as stated
Fits perfect can't ask for anything bet ter
Connected and does what it's supposed to to do. No problems after a year of use.
Aaron
7/22/2020
Still working as needed a year later.
Plugged it in and everything worked accordingly. Thanks etrailer.
Perfect pigtail!
Made the install a breeze.
Excellent service and delivery
I haven't installed this yet but it appears to be exactly what I needed. I can always count on Etrailer for my accessories
Worked as described, harness is a little on short side so your limited as to were you can mount brake controller
Made it easy to adapt to the vehicle ha rness.
David
3/14/2019
No issues with the product they are working great. Same as the day I installed them. Took a little time dialing the strength and how quick the brakes come on but overall very happy.
This controller came ready to use out of the box, Watched a YouTube video on the installation just to be sure and installed it myself in about 1/2 hour [I work slow} We used it this weekend and it worked flawlessly, seems like it set itself up and just worked great
I have a 2015 Traverse with V92 Factory tow package. All I had to do was plug this controller into the vehicle harness with the supplied plug and wala, everything worked perfect. Amy placed my order and she was very helpful in choosing what controller I wanted. Good Job Amy!
Right adaptor wiring for our brake cont roller!
Peggy
3/16/2019
Been working great after year!!
I only towed with it once and then I sold the truck I installed it in. I pulled the two axle camper bought 350 miles and it worked fine.
Connected to the OEM plug perfectly, works great on our Sunset 16 ft trailer.
Purchased this controller for a 2004 Toyota Tundra Limited and it has preformed perfectly! I haven't had any complaints. It reacts and adjusts quickly. Along with the plug and play function there's not much more I can say. Great product!
This brake controller adapter harness fit exactly as described.
Works well on a older truck , the new proportional controllers didn’t seem to be very effective on a older brake system.
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Gary
6/21/2019
It work good for me but I only used it once but I hope its working well for the next guy because Ive gotten rid of that vehicle