On Saturday, 9/8, I noticed the parking brake lever had lost tension when I first started the car, and after running errands and parking afterward, noticed a strong, "ozone-Y" odor coming from the car, but wasn't sure from where. I drove more a little more over the weekend and noticed the smell again, plus according to the car's mpg readout on the trip computer, the fuel mileage was much lower than usual by 5-10 mpg. On Monday, 9/10, two days after first noticing the smell and parking brake issue but not realizing what the problem was, I drove the car to and from work in commute traffic (approx. 13 miles each way). When I parked the car after the commute home after work, the burning smell was much stronger, and clearly coming from left rear brake. Upon inspection, I noticed light smoke coming from pad/rotor, lots of brake dust, and evidence of grooving on rotor, so obviously the brake was sticking or dragging on the rotor. I called my service dealership right away (Hyundai of seattle), who took the problem seriously and said "call Hyundai roadside assistance to have the car towed to the dealership on a flatbed truck; don't drive the car." It was towed to the dealership the next day, and diagnosed with a left rear brake caliper failure causing the pads to stick to the rotors. A new part was ordered and the car repaired by Saturday, 9/15. The service advisor at the dealership claimed to have never heard of this problem before, but I have since read on a website devoted to this specific model, Veloster.org, that a number of other 2012 Veloster owners have had the same problem. This seems a common defect and clearly a safety issue that Hyundai needs to address and dealerships made aware of.

- Seattle, WA, USA