Hole in front of car near license plate

It's for towing.

As for the braking how hard are you braking when you brake?

 

Also, does that happen when you're braking on flat ground free of debris, or when there are cracks/potholes/bumps/rocks/gravel?

If I break hard enough when going over a bump/crack, traction control will become unhappy, and that's normal.


As for the square cover, I'd think it should just pop back on, assuming you have it.

 

I get the traction control trigger all the time on the shoddy bumps that are an everyday feature of our roads where they've just messily sealed a crack with a mountain of tar or they've redone a section of road and left it at a totally different height from the old section. I also get it at home where there's a drain grate at the bottom of the ramp in from the street I and I need to brake in such a way that triggers it half the time.

Amusingly when I was driving on rough unsealed roads down the coast on Monday - never triggered.

Doesn't really bother me, its got a job to do and it's doing it.

 

If the anti-lock system works too readily, your tyres are either poor gripping or your tyre pressures are excessive

 

Poor gripping tires is kind of the M.O. for LRR tires... isn't it?