message: Trailer Brakes turned Off

I have been getting this message now for a few months. Trailer brakes are not working, but all the lights are functioning normal. It shows trailer connected and no error message. Took it in to dealership and they said it was okay. I tried hooking it up to another trailer and got the same message Trailer brakes turned off. that trailer is working fine for the person using it and is having no problems with the brakes. If I try to adjust the gain on the brakes then I get an error message "trailer brakes turned Off" not sure what going on here, hopefully somebody knows because the dealership seems clueless.
Thanks again for any suggestions.

 

There's a TSB for your factory brake controller. Hopefully the update fixes your problem.

 

I just took it in on july 25th, 2019 and they did the "el1904 reprogrammed ECU (trailer brake controller ECU)" and it did not change anything.
Unlike most posts I have found on the controller, Mine does not show trailer disconnected, no error code. It just says "trailer brakes turned off" and they are not intermitent, they just do not come on at all.

 

Are the trailer lights LED's. They might be drawing so few amps the ECU does not recognize them as being present.

 

Yes they are LED,s and they are working fine all the lights work great. The truck is recognizing the trailer hooked up. And no error codes. It just says "trailer brakes turned off" and of course the brakes do not activate or work.

 

Also everything did work when first used in August of 2018, Brakes, lights no issues.

 

When you step on the brakes, do the trailer brake lights brighten?

 

Can you try it with another trailer?

 

Yea, they do. You can definetly see the difference between driving lights and brakes.

 

I did try another trailer same thing all the lights worked fine, but still said "trailer brakes Turned off" ( there was a construction crew across the street from me that let me plug into there trailer that was working for them)

 

this was also after the appointment at the dealership on the 25th of July after they did the update. That I tryed the other trailer.

 

Hooked up my boat trailer today for the first time on my 2019 Tundra. The truck said “no trailer” when trying to adjust the brake controller. It let me adjust the gain but nothing.

 

Yea mine will not let me even attempt to adjust the gain, it just sends up error code "Trailer Brakes Turned Off" when I push the gain buttons.

 

purchased a tekonsha 90250 prodigy which is a proportional brake controller which runs the brakes itself. the trailer brakes work good with this controller. So it does appear to be something wrong on the toyota end, but they still claim there is nothing wrong with the trailer brake in the truck. not sure what to do at this point. Seems a little crazy to spend over $40,000 for a truck to pull a trailer, and the have the trailer brake controller not work?

 

Is the OEM trailer brake an individual component, or is it integrated?

 

It's integrated. All 2018 tundras have them.

 

Built into dash and connected to on board computer display.

 

That is disappointing to hear then. If it was the standalone component like my 07 has its a little easier to accept getting a new unit.

Sorry to hear.

Your new unit is working well for you at least?

 

Did you see this from the other thread?

https://www.tundras.com/threads/201...t-connected-warning.25341/page-6#post-1313013

 

Yes, the new unit works great.
Sbxx312, I am not getting the trailer disconnected message as others were, but the thread you posted I had not seen. I will probably order one of those connectors, considering how inexpensive they are, just to see if it fixes my problem also.
Thanks, mike ( I will post again once it arrives and I have a chance to try it.)

 

@ghengis where you able to figure out a solution, I have 2019 that started doing the same thing. It worked the first time I towed my trailer but now I’m just getting that trailer brake controller off message.

 

No fix yet other than the external brake controller I have been using. But I have still not tried the fix sbxx312 had mentioned a couple of posts back yet. You would really think this should be something toyota would figure out though.

 

Is yours doing the same thing with the trailer showing in dash as hooked up, but just says trailer brakes turned off?

 

I had this same issue today with my 2018 Tundra - Trailer Brake Control OFF. All of the lights, signals, etc worked, but not brakes. I took the truck to the dealership and they updated software, etc. but still could not get the brakes to work. I still had the message and would get the error message if I manually adjusted the gain. Turns out the brake controller had been turned off in the vehicle settings menu. I had a software update done for the front sensor back in December. I am not sure if this reset it back to the factory off position or not. Anyway. To turn the controller back on, scroll over to the Gear icon all the way to the right on the center display menu using the steering wheel buttons, down to vehicle settings and then to trailer type - Electric 0-4999lbs, 5000+, etc and then choosing your trailer type. In my case the electric 0-4999 lbs. option. This fixed my issues and my brakes are back working. I hope this helps someone. Seems so easy after the fact, but just figuring out that it had been turned off was the big hassle. Seems this stumped the dealership too.





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Your a GENIUS!! I'm sitting her at my storage site about to take the camper and had the same issue. Easy fix! Thanks!

 

OH my GOD! I’m going to try this! Likely the dealer did this accidentally when the head gasket was replaced. Will check it now!

 

This is what worked for me.. I think you may need to turn it on after every battery disconnect!

 

Thank God!!!! Worked for me. I kept calling dealers to see if anyone was familiar w the TSB and no one was or said would look into and not call back.
Mine also was brakes off message. New trailer back in April and worked fine until trip in august. Not sure why the brake controller reset to off but solved a lot of frustration

 

I'm so glad I found this thread!
Special thank you to Mickh26.
You totally saved my day!
I had just rented a travel trailer for two weeks and right after I picked it up the electric brakes wouldn't work. I sat on the side of the road totally bummed out cause I would've had to return it and cancel my trip. No way I'm taking a big rv trailer on the highway with no brakes.
Anyway, I found this thread and within 2 minutes I had the brakes working like a charm. ✌️