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Bulky boxes under the dash are a pain, but this controller sits nearly flush and is only 1" thick. The clean fit keeps your cab uncluttered while giving quick access to the rocker switches and pinch-trigger manual override. Automatic leveling means it can mount at any angle, so you can place it wherever it’s easiest to reach without giving up legroom.
Jolts and tugging disappear thanks to proportional braking that mirrors your tow vehicle’s motion. A built-in 3-axis accelerometer measures deceleration to send the same amount of braking power to your trailer. That keeps both rigs slowing together for smooth, even stops and less wear on tires and pads. The TriFlex NEXT works with trailers up to 4 axles (8 brakes) and supports both electric and electric-over-hydraulic systems.
No splicing or hardwiring needed here. The included plug-in harness connects directly to the factory brake control port behind your dash, making installation quick and tidy. Once connected, just secure the small bracket and you’re ready to tow—no extra parts required when your vehicle already has the 7-way socket in place.
The large, bright LED display shows everything clearly—including gain settings from 0.5 to 9.9 and load control from 1 to 9. You can dim it or use night mode for low-glare driving, and the screen also provides clear error codes for troubleshooting on the go. Power automatically increases on downhill grades and decreases uphill, keeping braking balanced wherever you drive.
Continuous self-checks help guard against shorts or reversed polarity, protecting your wiring and trailer system. When parked, the controller automatically enters sleep mode after 5 minutes to minimize battery draw, then wakes instantly when you press the brake pedal. It’s peace of mind built right into every tow.
If you don't already have a 7-way plug at the back of your vehicle, take a look at our exclusive 7- and 4-way brake control installation kit (ETBC7 - sold separately).
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey everyone, Ryan here at etrailer. Today on our 2021 Jeep Cherokee, we're gonna be showing you how to install the CURT TriFlex NEXT trailer brake controller in conjunction with the CURT adapter plug. But before we get into that, let's just take a minute, we'll check this one out and make sure it's gonna be the right setup for you. Here's what the brake controller can look like installed in your Jeep and honestly I think it's a pretty good fit. You know, it's relatively compact in size and with these Cherokees, you know, there's just not a whole lot of room on the dash to mount up a bigger style brake controller. So I think it pairs up well here.
Doesn't get in your way, but it's still gonna be easy to see and use. The whole purpose of a brake controller is to apply the trailer's brakes whenever you hit the brakes in your Jeep. That way you're not just solely relying on your Jeep to do all the braking. You know, you can use some extra. So if your trailer's set up with brakes, it's almost a must have.
It's gonna work with electric brakes as well as electric over hydraulic. So just about any scenario there, you should be in pretty good shape and it'll work with trailers that have up to four axles. So you know, chances are really good a vehicle like the Jeep be pulling trailers with one or two axles. So you'll definitely be covered as far as that goes. And in terms of what this looks like and everything, CURT has made some updates in the past and I think it looks great.
You know, the screen is easy to see what's going on, but it's not all lit up and everything when you're not using it. So it's not distracting and everything's pretty user friendly, so can't really go wrong there. This is a proportional style brake controller, which is what I recommend 99% of the time. So what that phrase means is however hard you hit the brakes in your Jeep, the trailer's gonna match that pressure. So for example, let's say if you're just kind of rolling up to the stop sign and you're halfway on that brake pedal, trailer's gonna respond the same way.
On the other hand, if there's an accident on the highway or something and you have to make a sudden emergency stop and really stand on that pedal, the trailer brakes are going to match that pressure. And so it just makes for a much more smooth and predictable stop. To compare this brake controller to some of the other ones as far as the ones similar to this, I kind of call 'em the traditional style where you actually mount up the box on the dash. With this CURT one here, if that's the style you're looking for, this one's probably your best bet and I said because it's compact and the fact that you can mount it in pretty much any orientation that you want makes for a good fit for the Cherokee. With that in mind though, if you're looking for something that has more of a clean install look and you don't really notice an excellent option and one that's really popular is the Redarc. So this one's the Tow-Pro Liberty, has a lot of really cool features and functions and with this style, this whole part here, you can mount up under the dash where you won't see it at all. And then all of your adjustments are just gonna come from this single knob here. So with these you can mount 'em pretty much wherever they fit and the only thing that you would see would be the knob on the dash or wherever you mount it. So a really clean install look and if that's what you're going for, this is definitely one to consider. There are a couple of adjustments that you can do with this brake controller. So you have your mode button here. If you push that, you can run through 'em. So with gain, you know what this is going to do. This is going to establish a maximum amount of power available to the trailer brakes. So you can run it all the way down or run it all the way up. And with this, you know, usually a good place to start is soaring in the middle and if it feels like your trailer brakes need a little bit more power, they're not slowing you down as good as you'd like, you can always turn that up some. If they're too aggressive and wanting to drag and things like that, you can dial it down. So it's really just gonna depend on what you're towing. You know, if your trailer's empty, you probably don't need a whole lot. Once it's loaded up, you know, you can make the adjustments that you need and kind of go from there. And then you have load. And what this is going to do is adjust how aggressive it is so to speak. So kind of how hard they're gonna come on as soon as you hit the brake there. So again, kind of the same, same deals with the gain. You know, if your trailer's light probably don't need it to be super aggressive. If it's all weighed down and you have your items in or on the trailer, you can probably turn it up some and kind of fine tune everything to your particular trailer that you're gonna be pulling. Then you have some other things too, you know, you can adjust the screen brightness and things like that, your day mode and night mode to make it easier to see and operate whenever you're going down the road. And then you're gonna have this slide here, which that's gonna be your manual override. And so what this is gonna do is send power back just to the trailer's brakes. So you would use this in the event of let's say a sway situation. If the trailer kind of starts to wanna sway and get away from you a little bit, you can always kind of ramp this up, slow that trailer down and get it straightened back out. That's really about it as far as the actual brake controller goes. But I do want to touch base on something that's really important and that's how to figure out what parts you're actually gonna need to make that brake controller work. And there's a few steps that you can do and check because these Jeeps are all set up a little bit different, at least from my own personal experience. So first thing that you want to check, does your Jeep have the factory tow package. So back here like ours does, we have this seven-way connector here. And if you see this on your Jeep, really good chance that you have that factory tow package. But there's something else you can check to kind of take it a step further and make sure that the brake controller adapter plug is going to work. Once you verified you do indeed have that seven-way connector, next thing you wanna do is come under the dashboard here on the driver's side and check for the factory connector plug. So underneath a panel here, if you look up in there, you should see that connector plug and if you do, you're in good shape and you really won't need a whole lot of extra parts at all. If you verify that you do indeed have your seven-way and that connector plug, all you're gonna need is the brake controller and this adapter plug. So we'll just plug right in to the brake controller and then underneath the dash, that's really all there is to it. If you don't have those components, it's definitely a little more involved. First things first, you would need trailer wiring like this. So this kit is made by CURT, it's custom fit for this Jeep and it has a four-way flat type connector. So you get this set up and then you can use the etrailer.com universal brake controller install kit and that will more or less convert this into the seven-way style connector that you're gonna need, you know, to allow your trailer to actually plug in. And that kit's gonna come with a few of the other parts and pieces that you're gonna need to actually get the trailer brake controller powered up and working properly. Ultimately a really nice trailer brake controller. You know, if you're looking for that traditional style one, I think this is probably your best bet for the Cherokee. It just fits well. You can see, it easy to use and it's gonna work in just about any situation so you can't really ask for too much more. As far as the installation goes, you know it's really just gonna depend on how your Jeep's already set up. You know, if you need the brake controller install kit and the four-way wiring, so on and so forth, definitely gonna be a little more involved and time consuming. In our case, we had the factory tow package and so everything was just plug and play pretty much. So really straightforward and if there's a setup like this, shouldn't hardly give you any issues or take up your time. But if you're gonna install it yourself, feel free to hang around. We'll go ahead and get started on it. To begin our installation, we're gonna be here in the driver's front seat on our Jeep and we need to locate our factory connector plug, which is located right here in this area. There's gonna be a panel that we can loosen up to get to it. Here's this little panel and there's a screw there in the middle of it. If we loosen that up, we should be able to kind of pop this down and out of the way enough to get to the connector plug which will be kinda located right back here. This is the connector plug that we're looking for. It's kind of just slid into this little plastic keeper here. Yours might be set up a little bit different, but the concept's the same. That connector plug should be located somewhere in this area here under the dash. But to get it out of that keeper, there's a little tab there and when you push down on it you can slide it back out of there and that way it's a little bit, a little bit easier to work with. With our connector plug ready to go now, I went ahead and resecured that panel the opposite way that we removed it and we're ready to set up our brake controller. As far as mounting the brake controller up, you know, you don't have a ton of options in the Cherokee but one option is right here. So I think that's what we're gonna do. It's easy to see, easy to get to but out of the way at the same time. And the bracket, it's pretty nice. You can either use screws or they give you some really good two sided sticky tape. And being that there's an airbag system and other components relatively close to this area here, I'd rather not use the screws. So I think we're just gonna use this, the sticky tape here and apply it to the dash like that. And if that's what you decide to do, just make sure that the surface is clean and dry. You know, I came in with some rubbing alcohol, wiped it down, let it dry off. That way we get excellent adhesion with our sticky tape. So I went ahead and took the included two sided sticky tape, cleaned off our bracket and stuck it to the bracket and now the dash is ready to go. So I'll go ahead and put this into position and show you how it turned out. Here's where I put the controller, I think it turned out pretty good. Give you a better idea here. You can just slide it off there to see the bracket and that's how it's set up. So when you put this on here, just make sure you push down on it to get it to stick really well. With our brake controller mounted and our connector plug ready to go, all we have to do is plug those two into each other. Before we go any further cleaning up our wiring and everything, it's a good idea to test the brake controller to make sure that it's working properly. So I just hooked up to a test box here, which simulates a trailer. You can use your trailer that you have, but keep in mind if your trailer has any issues with it, it might mislead you and thinking something is wrong with what we did in the Jeep. But that said, we'll go inside and check it out. First things first, go ahead and push one of the buttons here and we can see we have our power I'll hit our brake. We're getting power sent back there and for our manual override, we'll try that too. Ramp it up. We're getting power sent back so I think it's safe to say we're good to go. We went ahead and cleaned up our wiring. Just use some of the zip ties and kind of tucked everything up under the dash. You saw it turned out when you're doing this, not really a whole lot to it just to make sure you're not, you know, in contact with any moving parts, your brake pedal arm, your steering column, anything like that. So pretty straightforward and to help kind of clean up our install look a little bit too. Since the wiring coming out of the brake controllers, is exposed wires, I took maybe six or eight inches of wire loom, put it over there just to help it kind of blend in and look a little more finished. From there, you just wanna start your vehicle on level ground. The brake controller will self calibrate and not a bad idea either to hook up to your trailer, go to a safe spot and run through some braking sequences. The instructions will tell you, you know, what adjustments you can make and things like that if you need to. So that's always something you can try. But with that said, that'll finish up our look at and our installation of the CURT TriFlex NEXT trailer brake controller in conjunction with the CURT adapter plug on our 2021 Jeep Cherokee.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
96% were satisfied with this product
4% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
Great product
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.
All the information I needed was on your site. Got the correct adapter cable and was able to just plug in the controller.
Absolutely excellent service!
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 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!
install was easy...just hope it works....Im an older guy...hope i can follow instructions
Perfect fit.
This is a perfect fit for our E450 RV chassis. It made the install a five minute job.
Great brake controller for the price. Easy to install with the video. Customer service was very prompt and kind.
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)
Customer service is very good.
Kate M. my salesperson, had a most professional interaction with me being certain of my and my vehicle's needs. In addition, she walked me through the complete installation process. This I completed, wiring the 7-way and the Curt Discovery Controller making no errors along the way. On the first test, every terminal on the 7-way tested as it should. When we came home with the RV from the dealer, all the lights and the brakes worked flawlessly. Many thanks!!
Switch Housing is a bit bulky and created an issue for mounting. A smaller, more compatible housing would definitely be preferred.
It worked great, easy to install. I would highly recommend it.
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.
Plug and play, quick install!
Works well, first trailer brake I've ever used.
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.
Adapted Curt brake controller for my 2014 Ford F150 STX without any problems. Just find your Ford brake control connector behind the coin slot on the left side of the dash and plug it in.
It was as it said , plug and play, on my pickup anyway, you have to remove the plastic piece underneath the steering column and I was able to reach across to the back of plastic tray where the factory controller would be installed and unplugged the pigtail you need to connect to your controller
Says compatible for my tundra and didn’t even have the pigtail adapter. You would think with the cost it would be included.
Need to pick my trailer up tomorrow and now need to buy a completely different brand.
So what I found out is that the adapter plug that fits the 2026 Branco also fits my 2026 E450 cutaway (motor home).I imagine it fits all 2026 ford trucks, can't confirm nor verify but it would make sense. Plug for controller is behind stash/coin holder just left of steering wheel. I will try to upload some pics or maybe even a vid after I finish install.
The Curt TriFlex Next works perfect and was simple to install. The harness plugged right into the my trucks adaptor and I did not have to splice any wires. The included zip ties helped tuck away the wires and the double sided tape was all I needed to mount securely to my dash. The towing modes are simple to adjust and the controller works as advertised.
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Tommy J.
1/31/2015
After a year of using the Curt brake controller it has been by far the best one of several I have used and installed. i highly recommend the controller.