Patent ID: 8463519

Claim:
A brake control unit for providing an output signal to brakes of a towed vehicle, comprising: a characteristic sensor that detects a quantifiable braking-relevant characteristic of either the towing vehicle or the trailer and outputs data to a microprocessor of the brake control unit that represents the quantification of the detected braking-relevant characteristic; said microprocessor programmed to receive and process the data representative of the detected braking-relevant characteristic and output corresponding data representing a trailer braking control command; and a housing within which said characteristic sensor and microprocessor are located and wherein said housing comprises a front face upon which a touch sensitive surface is located, said touch sensitive surface in signal communication with said microprocessor; wherein said microprocessor sends a signal to activate brakes of the trailer upon sensing press-engagement of the touch sensitive surface; wherein said microprocessor receives a signal from the touch sensitive surface indicative of a degree of force associated with the sensed press-engagement of the touch sensitive surface; wherein said microprocessor outputs a signal to brakes of the trailer in proportion to the degree of force sensed by the touch sensitive surface.