Blue Ox Patriot Braking System Give A04 Error and Stays Fully Extended

Updated 04/29/2015 | Published 04/28/2015

Question:

While on the Interstate highway towing my 2010 Jeep Liberty behind 2015 Forest River Georgetown motorhome I applied the brakes. Then, the Blue Ox Patriot BXR2012 actuator rod locked in the fully extended position applying brakes and then not releasing them. This was about four hours into my trip from OH to TX. The Blue Ox rep told me how to access the internal software where I found error code A04, which they said represents a hard drive failure. Blue Ox FecExd me a replacement and authorized a return of the failed unit. After installing the new unit, I headed home from TX back to OH. About three hours into my return trip, the same problem occurred on the new replacement unit. What do you think could be wrong?

asked by: Vince

Expert Reply:

I am assuming that you received the same error code on the replacement Patriot braking system which would indicate another software error. The question is, why does this keep happening, since it is unlikely that 2 different Patriot systems would have the exact same problem.

It sounds like what might be happening is the Liberty battery is losing voltage over time while you are towing and that is affecting the Patriot system, which is supposed to go into a battery saving mode when it detects low voltage on the vehicle battery but only repeated testing would determine if that is the issue.

I recommend going to a braking system that works differently, the SMI Stay-IN-Play DUO, # SM99251. Once it is installed you will not have to worry about having to reinstall it every time.

expert reply by: Michael H