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Small, light, and precise, this portable unit gets you smooth braking with basically no installation. Plugs directly into 12V outlet. Easy to swap between multiple cars. Control and monitor the system remotely from your motorhome with LCD display.
Features:
Specs:
A braking system is a must when towing a vehicle behind your motorhome. Without it, the weight of the towed car can create a safety hazard, strain your RV's brakes, and affect the warranty of both your car and motorhome. Most states legally require a supplemental braking system, so if you don't use one and you end up in an accident (which is more likely since your RV takes longer to come to a full stop), your insurance and liability headache just doubled. You also won't have any breakaway system; if there's an accidental disconnect, there's nothing to bring your car to a stop.
First, this system is great for DIYers, because there's basically no installation. You'll run a cable from the breakaway switch on the front of the car into the cab so you can plug it into the unit, which might require a little bit of drilling into the firewall to either widen an existing hole or make a new one. But the unit itself will simply plug into your car's 12V outlet. That's it.
Second, it offers you a lot of flexibility. It's easy to move from one toad (towed vehicle) to another. As long as you have a second vehicle breakaway kit (BRK2505 - sold separately) installed, the Patriot can be easily set up in another car, giving you the freedom to switch up which vehicle comes with you on your next camping trip. Or, if you think you'll get a new toad down the road, it will be a piece of cake to get that car set up to use this unit.
"If you're going with a portable system, the Blue Ox Patriot is your best option. It's compact and lightweight, and offers smooth and precise braking most portable systems can't match."
The Patriot uses a built-in inertia sensor to detect when your flat tow setup begins to slow down as you apply the brakes in your motorhome. The moment the system recognizes the change in momentum, the actuator will press down the brake pedal of your toad proportionally: at the same time, with the same intensity.
If you're towing a hybrid or any car with continuous-power-assist brakes, all you have to do to be able to use the Patriot is turn on Hybrid mode.
You'll be setting up this portable unit in your toad every time you flat tow, so it's designed to be easy to do. And with it's compact size, it fits in almost any vehicle on the market.
Slide the driver's seat all the way back and set the Patriot on the floor. If your car's floorboard is uneven, you can add the included feet to the bottom of the unit to make sure it sits as level as possible.
Push down on the tab at the top of the clamp to widen the jaws. Get them around the brake pedal, then release.
Plug the Patriot into your car's 12-volt outlet and push the power button. The indicator lights will blink blue and green as the unit calibrates and the actuator will briefly adjust itself.
Note: If the lights turn solid red and blue, the Patriot is putting too much pressure on the brake pedal. Pull the unit away from the pedal until the lights switch back to blinking blue and green again.
Now move the driver's seat forward until it is just touching the back of the unit, called the push pad. You can move the push pad up or down to get it in just the right place to brace against the seat. If there's too much pressure on the push pad, the lights will turn solid red and blue. Edge the seat back until the lights return to a blinking blue and green.
Your final step is to push the setup button. The Patriot will test the brake once and check for any errors. When the power light turns a solid green, the Patriot is ready to go.
It's important to monitor your toad's braking to make sure that everything's working the way it should. With the included remote, you can also control the Patriot from the cab of your RV! It's just like having a brake controller in your motorhome.
From the monitor, you can adjust both the braking force and sensitivity, which will determine how aggressively the Patriot brakes your toad. A larger vehicle will need a higher setting for smooth braking, while a smaller car can do with a lower one. Either way, you can set it to your preference; as long as the toad is not pushing the motorhome forward when you're braking, you know your setting is high enough.
The controller also has a manual override button that will activate the towed car's brakes when you press it. This is great for applying the brakes in an emergency situation and for correcting sway.
The controller will also let you know whether your braking system is working, or if something is going wrong. As with any portable braking system, if the unit shifts position while you're on the road, it could stop working properly or even apply too much pressure to the pedal. The monitor will let you know right away, before any damage is done. Likewise, if your vehicle ever breaks away from the motorhome, the display will immediately turn red.
The Patriot's LCD display plugs right into your motorhome's 12V outlet. You can mount it on the RV dashboard with the included stand or the hook-and-loop strip. This keeps it right in sight and in easy reach.
The Patriot also comes with a breakaway switch, an absolute must for safe flat towing. If there's ever an emergency situation where your toad becomes detached from the motorhome, the breakaway switch will immediately activate the brakes and bring your vehicle to a stop.
This switch mounts to the front of your toad and plugs directly into the unit. It includes a pin that connects to your RV's hitch receiver with a breakaway cable. If the toad and RV become disconnected, the cable will pull the pin out of the switch and trigger the braking system. A reserve air supply in the operating unit will then apply the brakes in the car. Even if, for any reason, the car's battery is dead and no longer sending power to the Patriot, it will trigger and bring the car to a stop.
California residents: click here
Andy was a great help to get my flat tow started on my Ford Ranger. I will go to my local auto electric buddy for the lights installation. Thanks Andy for your help.
I installed a battery charge line on my towed vehicle and had to leave the auxiliary switch on to get power to the Blue Ox I got 20 miles away and the battery was already below 10amps so has to disconnect the Blue Ox.
Gwendolyn Y.
4/15/2025
Hey Mike. That doesn't sound good at all. Without knowing exactly how everything was wired, its hard to know 100% what could be causing this. The best place to start would be to install part # RM-9332 If you have not already. This gets wired directly into the battery to supply the power to the Blue Ox Patriot. If you do have that installed and still are having issues, please let me know!
This braking system worked well once I was able to find a power source. My car's 12V sockets do not remain powered with the ignition off. The USB ports do remain on but a USB-to-12V-socket adapter, while initially appearing to work, caused power spikes/feedback warnings. Finally found that my battery emergency starter/air compressor worked perfectly to provide the needed power.
This is super easy to install and setup. The hardest part on my 2003 MX-5 was routing the breakaway switch wire through the firewall. I don't think Mazda was thinking anyone would do that.
Outstanding service and extremely fast delivery! Spoke with a few people from etrailer and was pleasantly surprised by the level of knowledge and desire to ensure all questions were answered. I would not hesitate to order from.
Nice system. Easy install,Calibrated easily, but I have not "toad" with it yet. I did run a dedicated power outlet for it.
Brooke M.
3/27/2025
I'm glad the experience has been smooth thus far! WE'd love to know what your feedback is once you get a chance to use it, too. Thanks, John!
Delivery was on time and easy to track. Etrailer beat all competitor pricing. Great company to deal with. Only issue I had was that the price of the brake dropped within a week of ordering and etrailer wouldn’t give me the new sale price. Overall though I’m vey happy with etrailer and would use them again.
12 Volt outlet in 2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is only active when ignition is on. Called ETrailer, very helpful with suggestion of 20 amp cigarette lighter adaptor. Should have it ready to go soon.
Product was a piece of cake to install and set up was extremely easy. Test drove our RV pulling a Ford F-150. First time towing a truck with our RV. I installed everything with help from a good Friend of mine, Paul.
Appreciated the help from sales rep.All items were received in a very timely manner. Products out of the box look like quality and as expected, will be completing installation later this week.
Wonderful service. Would highly recommend E- Trailer.
Works great. Fits nicely in my 2018 JL Wrangler. The best thing is how light and compact it is.
Our New Patriot Braking System works great and a very easy hookup
Easy to install. I had to install a constant 12V recep which was equally easy to put in. Bluetooth works fine. Definitely recommend in lieu of a hard mounted unit.
It’s amazing how it works. We did a 6,000 mile trip never ever using something like this and it worked great did lose Bluetooth connection one time but pulled over and reset it. I ended up placing rolled up bath towels on both sides of it to help keep it from moving on the floor of the jeep. Great product and you don’t have to tamper with your factory car wiring.
Not installed yet but I have great expe ctations
David
3/22/2025
Hooks up like you would expect but sensitive and fussy when using. I’ve found it difficult to “dial it in” so it’s not either slamming on the brakes or flashing a Bluetooth connectivity error with the co control unit forcing me to pull over to check and restart the system.
Jon G.
3/22/2025
Great item and easy to use and install
Brooke M.
3/27/2025
Awesome, Tim! Glad you are happy with it now that you've had a chunk of time to use it. :)
Last trip we did we had issues with it connecting with RF remote. We got a bigger rig, and my tow vehicle is further away from the drivers cab. Is range an issue?
Victoria H.
1/28/2025
Hi Wesley, I reached out to Blue Ox to get to the bottom of this for you. Our contact there said that range shouldn’t be an issue as the RF controller has 350ft range in open air. Have you tried moving the RF controller closer to the driver side window to see if that would help the connection? Please let me know if this resolves the issue for you.
Easy to use. Great service from both etrailer and blue ox
For the amount it costs you would think the unit would have 4 leveling feet. On the 2024 Maverick the rear pad and rear adjustable feet needs to raise the unit to the max hight in order to connect with the seat front. During setup the unit would try to submarine under the seat. Using a board btwn seat and rear pad which helped some. Without front feet the unit is not stable. I opted (per b.o. c/s) to shim up the forward portion using a block of wood. Haven't tested it on the road yet so may update this
review later.
Does what it’s supposed to but I find it moves out of alignment when vehicle is being towed.
This works very well and the only issue is that sometimes the remote display will lose connectivity with the brake controller. Per the manual, it isn't required to use and I have about 50' of distance.
Very impractical for full-time towing. Might be okay for weekenders.
New unit out of box did NOT work correctly, error codes. Customer service at Blue Ox is shipping new BRK 2022 the same day I called. I will review when the new one arrives.
Customer service I will rate as EXCELLENT
The product is excellent however the length of time it takes to receive the merchandise from ETrailer
Do you have a question about this Flat Tow Brake System?
Condition: Like New
Notes: May have damaged packaging or minor cosmetic blemishes.
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Victoria H.
3/19/2025
That looks amazing Gary and I'm so happy to hear Andy was such so helpful to you! I will let him know you gave him a shout out. Enjoy the warm weather, we were just hit with another cold front in Missouri. I can almost feel the sunshine in this photo!