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The TriFlex NEXT senses how hard you’re braking and applies your trailer brakes to match. Its internal 3-axis accelerometer delivers true proportional control—light pressure gives you gentle braking, a hard stomp gives you full power. That balance keeps your whole setup moving as one, cutting out the push-pull feeling and reducing wear on tires and pads. It works with electric trailer brakes on up to 4 axles (8 brake assemblies) and handles everything from slow traffic to steep grades with ease.
Most brake controllers take up space under the dash or stick out awkwardly. The TriFlex NEXT mounts flush and is only 1" thick, so it fits tight against the panel without crowding your knees. Automatic leveling means you can mount it at any angle, and the included bracket makes installation simple. The under-dash box stays out of sight while keeping the manual override trigger easy to reach when you need it.
You can dial in the exact braking feel you want using two simple rocker switches. Gain adjusts the maximum power from 0.5 to 9.9 in 0.5-point steps, while load sets how aggressively the trailer reaches that max power on a scale of 1–9. It’s quick to tune—heavy trailers get more gain for confident stopping, lighter setups can back it off for smooth control.
The LED display is bright, easy to read, and simple to understand at a glance. It shows braking power, sensitivity, and error codes in plain text for quick troubleshooting. You can adjust brightness or use night mode so it doesn’t glare on the dash after dark. Built-in continuous diagnostics help catch wiring or brake issues before they turn into problems on the road.
The TriFlex NEXT is designed to protect itself, your vehicle, and your trailer from electrical issues. It guards against shorts and polarity reversal, cuts power during prolonged stops to prevent overheating, and automatically enters sleep mode after five minutes of inactivity to minimize battery drain. The moment you hit the brake pedal again, it wakes right up—ready for the next tow.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi there, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Today we're gonna take a quick look at this Curt Triflex Next Trailer Brake Controller. So if you have electric brakes or electric over hydraulic brakes, you're probably already aware that without a brake controller your trailer's brakes won't activate. So they're really not doing you any good. So you are gonna need to have a brake controller. Basically what a brake controller does is when you apply the brakes in your tow vehicle it's gonna send a signal through your brake switch to your brake controller.
The brake controller is then going to send an electrical signal out to your trailer's brakes so that they apply and help to slow down your trailer. There are several different kinds of brake controllers. There's different basic technologies and that sort of thing. Really your two main categories are you have a time delayed set up or you have a proportional setup. So with your time delay, essentially you set how much power you want applied to your brakes and then no matter if you're just tapping your brakes or really slamming on them in an emergency sort of situation, it's going to apply that same preset power each time.
So there are some downsides to that. It doesn't give you as much control. It can be a little aggressive sometimes when you don't need it to be. But then with your proportional setup it is going to apply your trailer's brakes with the same intensity as your tow vehicle's brakes. So if you're just lightly tapping on the brakes it's just going to lightly apply your trailer's brakes.
So proportional systems like this one are definitely my preference. I think they're a little bit more, give a little bit more finesse to your performance. There are some downsides to these. Typically, they are gonna be a little bit more expensive then your time delayed systems just because they do have more components to them. They've got an accelerometer in there that's going to sense the inertia of your movement so that it can apply the brakes proportionally for you.
And then another downside is typically because it does have that inertia sensor in there, or an accelerometer, it's going to have to be mounted in certain configurations to follow your direction of travel. And that's one benefit to this particular model is that it doesn't have to be mounted in any particular configuration. So you can basically mount it wherever you want. So definitely a benefit to this one over even other proportional systems. So for this model specifically, it does have the LED display that's going to show the amount of power output. You can adjust that with your rocker switches here. So very easy to access those. That's going to allow you to adjust between 10 different gain settings. So you can adjust the amount of braking power to suit your performance, the road conditions, the type of trailer you're towing, and the weight of your load. If you select a higher setting for a harder braking and a lower setting for more gradual braking, you do wanna make sure when you're getting that set up a good rule of thumb is to go just shy of where your trailer's brakes lock up. So test it out a few times. As you're going down the road you don't want your trailer's brakes to lock up. So get to that point and then come down just a little bit to get that fine tune where you need it to be. And then typically your gain is only gonna have to be readjusted when you're experiencing changing road conditions or if the weight of your trailer changes. So if you drop off your trailer load and you're needing to you probably need to adjust that gain there. It also gives you nine different load settings so that you can adjust how quickly the brakes will reach their maximum braking level. So if your vehicle takes too long to come to a stop, good idea to increase your setting by pressing the upper rocker switch. And then if it's stopping too abruptly you can decrease the settings as well. So you kind of fine tune it to your preference. We also have the pinch trigger manual override here. So that's within very easy reach, very simple to operate. What that's gonna do is allow you to apply your trailer's brakes without having to apply the brakes in your tow vehicle. So say for instance, if your trailer starts swaying you don't really need to slow down your whole setup you just need to apply the brakes in your trailer to kind of bring that back in line. So you can just push in on that trigger switch there and that will apply your brakes in your trailer without having to apply the brakes in your tow vehicle. This does have several different integrated safeguards to help protect your vehicle, the trailer, and the controller itself. It's going to run continuous diagnostic checks to alert you to any potential problems. It will help to minimize drain on your car battery by entering sleep mode. After about five minutes of inactivity it's gonna help keep your trailer's brakes from overheating by reducing power output when you're sitting for prolonged periods or prolonged stops. So if you're in traffic or something like that it's gonna help decrease the power so your brakes don't overheat. It's also going to defend the brake controller and trailer brake away system against any shorts and prevent positive and negative power reversal with its built-in polarity protection. This is gonna be very quick and easy to get installed. Again because you're not having to worry about the orientation, you can basically just get it mounted wherever it's gonna be most convenient for you to reach and access those controls. They've got this mounting bracket here. As you can see we'll just use the included hardware to get this mounted in place. And then basically our controller just slides onto that so it can be mounted flush with your dash. So very convenient to get that mounted. When you're considering where you can mount this, give you a few measurements here. You can see it is right about three we'll call it three and one eighth of an inch wide. Our length, we're right about four inches long. And our height approximately one inch overall. So keep that in mind and when you're deciding where you can get this mounted. Now as far as wiring goes, that's gonna completely depend on your setup. So there are some vehicles that already have a plug pre-installed from the factory that will allow you to just plug this right in there. If you don't have that on your vehicle, there are some kits available that will allow you to make that installation process pretty simple. But they are very vehicle specific. So I'd encourage you to use our vehicle fit guide here at etrailer.com. You'll select your year, make, and model of your vehicle. We'll let you know which products are confirmed to fit with your vehicle. So that's another route to go. If your vehicle isn't already pre-wired with a plug then I would recommend that. Otherwise, it is gonna take a little bit of doing to get this installed. If you don't already have a seven way plug at the back of your vehicle, I would highly recommend using our ETBC seven plug that's gonna provide wiring and everything to get you set up so that you've got that connection so that your trailer can connect to your vehicle. But overall, a really great option here. Like I said, I really like the proportional system. The way this is going to allow your trailer's brakes to be applied at the same intensity as your tow vehicle. I like that this model gives you that option to have more versatility and where you get it mounted. And so overall, I think this is gonna be a great way to go if you are needing a brake controller for your trailer's brakes. And that completes our look for today. Again, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Thanks for watching.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
98% were satisfied with this product
2% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
Awesome controller
Very easy to install. Instructions were very clear products worked as intended very satisfied.
I needed an electric brake control for my 2006 Dodge pickup but was having trouble finding one locally that would plug in to the factory installed plug. If it was a Chev or Ford it was in stock and I didn't want a universal that would have to cut into the wiring. I called etrailer to make sure what I saw on their website was correct and they assured me it was so I ordered it. It arrived, I instaled it and it works perfect.
In hind sight I probably didn't need to order this item. Forgetting how difficult it was to access the connector on my Dodge Ram when I installed my first (now defunct) brake controller, I imagine it will be a greater struggle to get it to disconnect before putting the new one on. So I think what I'll do is cut the Dodge specific connector off the one end, cut the wires off my old controller and splice this pigtail into it, thus eliminating the need to remove the old connector!
Jeff M.
9/25/2018
My splice job worked as planned however I no longer own that vehicle.
I ordered a fifth wheel brackets and hitch along with curt brake controller and pigtail. Everything fit great with no problems and the service and shipping was very speedy. Highly recommend etrailer for all your needs.
All the information I needed was on your site. Got the correct adapter cable and was able to just plug in the controller.
I’ve use the electric brake system several times over the last year. I was impressed at how easy it was to use, and how much safer it was when braking. It was easy to install and worked great
Easy to install, had no glitches. Replace an older brake controller.
Easy to install and use. I would recommend getting one.
This unit took less than 10 minutes to install and works flawlessly with my Grand Cherokee while pulling a Travel Trailer. Plus its low profile design made it easy to install by the hood release so I don't have a big box and display on top of my dashboard. Great product at the right price. Highly recommend this brake controller and etrailer.
Works great. Very easy install.
Works well. The connector I got from e trailer which fits other older model Audi’s wasn’t listed to fit the 2024 Audi but fit perfectly. The Curt Triflex is an easy to use brake controller. Highly recommend!
The controller works very well, and the wires included works perfectly in my 2002 Dodge diesel. The price was decent and the shipping was fast…
The only reason I can’t give it five stars is because the LED lens is rubbed/scraped badly. It doesn’t affect how well it works, but it’s really annoying when you buy a new product and it’s damaged? (Bummer)
Perfect fit for my 1999 Dodge Ram. it made installation of the brake controller super easy. I highly recommend paying the extra $** for this item.
thank you Carter for the help selecting the correct piece I needed.
You saved us both!!
Nothing but good things to say!!
Arrived as planed and was much smaller then my old clunky one. The custom cable harness was easy to install. Finding a flat spot to mount the controller took the longest to find the perfect spot. I gave a five stars because every was as it said. (Plug and play)
It does not fit my vehicle. On the attached photo the connector on the left is the stock dodge plug, the plug on the right is what I just got
Brooke M.
8/23/2023
Hmm...youll be looking for another white plug like the white harness. Do you know if your truck for sure has the factory tow package?
Great brake controller for the price. Easy to install with the video. Customer service was very prompt and kind.
This item easily plugged into my Curt brake controller and into my truck’s factory plug. Made for a less than 5 minute install; powering up the brake controller with no issues. Convenient is an understatement with this pigtail. Rig is 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 4X4 CTD.
Easy install and straight forward adjustment. Good instructions and like the additional reference card to keep handy.
Sorry for the late follow-up. I just wanted to let you know that the brake
controller and wiring harness I purchased through eTrailer worked very well
with my 2008 Dodge Ram 2500 with the Cummins 6.7L diesel. Pictures are
attached for your use, as required.
The trailer was an 18-foot enclosed snow machine tailer with a steel
chassis. I can't remember the empty weight, but it's substantial. We towed
empty and full on dry and snow covered roads from Oklahoma to Colorado and
back. Even with th exhaust brake on my truck, I can't imagine towing this
load through the hills and mountains without a brake controller. It's been
done before, but I would say it's an unnecessary risk given the more than
reasonable prices at eTrailer...it was cheap insurance pulling such a heavy
rig with my family on board.
The controller was definitely not your top-of-the-line model, but the
adjustability and controls were more than adequate for somebody who tows
occasionally. A professional may desire more proportional controls and
adjustability, but not much more. This unit peformed flawlessly.
Thank you for your time. Please feel free to contct me if you would like
any clarification on my statements or pictures.
Took a while to figure it out. Have a 2003 Dodge van. Had to tow in package but didn’t have any wiring factory installed other than for the seven way. Paul it was great identifying what I need and sending it to me. Thank you very much.
This is a new model of the Curt TriFlex brake controller. As a replacement for the previous unit, it was nice to be able to install it without rewiring. The new model has a more modern style digital display that is easier to read and less annoying. The button controls are a bit less obvious than the previous model, so it takes a little effort to figure out how to adjust the system. Overall, I think it's a better unit that the previous models.
Simple installation 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 Total Installation took about 45 minutes and that’s with Installing wire loom to give it a clean look
Great controller. Love the compact design and the plug and play wiring kit worked perfectly. Simple to use and easy to read. Really like the mount for it. Overall, best bang for the buck compared to other controllers.
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Michael D.
7/16/2017
Still working fine.