Trailer sway is a condition that is inherent in most towed trailers.
When a trailer is hitched with a tow vehicle with a hitch ball it might sway when the trailer is acted upon by some outside force.
This push or pull can be applied by gusting winds, passing trucks, uneven loads or tow vehicle driver reactions into the trailer.
High winds from unsatisfactory weather can induce trailer sway.
A wind gust that buffets the side of the towed trailer will attempt to sway the trailer on the hitch ball.
This results in the rear of the tow vehicle being pushed to the side when the sway force acts on the hitch ball.
When the rear of the tow vehicle is forced to the side the driver might have a natural inclination to steer in a counter direction.
This might be disastrous.
Another type of wind that can apply a sway force to the trailer is from a passing truck.
Semi trucks push a bow wave of air that passes along the side of the trailer.
The unstable pressures of this air will suck the trailer in the direction of the truck.
This might evoke a driver reaction that may start the trailer to vacillate.
A uneven load in the trailer might also evoke trailer sway.
If a load suddenly shifts or falls to the side during travel that force could allow the trailer to begin to sway.
Whenever any of these conditions occur it is essential that you do not answer in a fashion that will start the trailer to oscillate behind you.
It is also imperative that you do not apply the brakes on the tow vehicle because that could evoke a jackknife.
If trailer sway begins there are very clear actions to take to minimize it.
The first thing to do is accelerate lightly.
This may seem counter intuitive to what you would do but it will make the trailer start to straighten out.
The next step is to manually implement the electric trailer brakes.
This will also straighten the trailer back behind the tow vehicle.
Trailer sway might be controlled with excellent equipment.
The first type of equipment that most people are sold can only be marginally acceptable to control trailer sway.
These are usually friction based hitches that will only operate only during light trailer movement.
The best performing type of sway control comes through a pivot point projection style hitch.
This excellent design will eliminate trailer sway through projecting the location of the pivot point of the trailer.
A pivot point projection hitch can control your trailer sway.