Frozen Emergency Brake

hello,
if your e-brake is stuck then you could look at the unit on the side and there should be a small lever that you can pull to release the brakes if the cable is not working, the cables themselves could be frozen? or something mechanical inside the drums or calipers in the rear that could be stuck and not moving. there is a possibility that the master cylinder is at fault, but rare. you can open the rear wheel bleed valves and see if the vehicle can move? if so, then check the rubber lines to the wheels? to be bad

You have limited choices. Your biggest concern will be the Racheting action of the Emergency brakes which takes up slack.

Check online for the Emergency Brake Assembly for your Model. There should be pictures and mention of the release mechanism. They are made to allow the cable spool to unspool, usually by moving a tab with a screwdriver tip.

Now on the wheel end, the mechanism may pull the brake levers to spread the Brakes. The pivot for the wheel lever may be frozen or the cable frozen in its travel zone.

So you have the possibility of devices taking up slack at both ends of the brake cable. Not familiar with Mazda design, if it has a hand lever for Parking brake. This style can be auto-rachet or mechanical nut and bolt style to increase or decrease cable length.

The more photos you see about the components, the better off you will be. I hope I have been helpful.

Yes you could have warped the drums by getting them hot with the emergency brake on.
You may have to replace the rear drums and shoes.

Sounds like the emergency brake is frozen. You will have to remove the tire and brake drum to see what is going on. The drum will probably be stuck on due to the problem you are having. You will have to back off the star wheel adjuster to free up the brake shoes and/or release a stuck emergency brake cable. This will take more than a novice so you will probably need to get help. Good luck :O)

The first thoughts are either a frozen bearing or locked up brake.

you could have a caliper that is stuck on the brake.
This could be due to crud, or a bad emergency brake operation.

If its a frozen bearing it should have been making noise for awhile.

Thry putting the parking brake on and off several times to see if it frees up

your emergency brake cables or at least one is frozen up or the brake shoes are frozen to the drum try removing the stuck tire and pour boiling water on the brake drum this should free up the shoes,the light is on because of the lever is not all the way down until cable goes back to normal.

Do you mean that the hand lever will drop to the stowed position but the rear brakes are still on? Probably cables if this is the case. Do you live in an area that uses salt on the roads? The rear caliper's emergency brake system can stick in the cold but this is unusual. To find out what is going on it is required that you get under the car to do some prying on the caliper's emergency brake lever. How cold?

Stuck on? If so sounds like you have frozen e-brake cables. In that case you'll have to cut the cables to get the e-brake to release then replace the cables.

what do you mean frozen? is it cold or old rusted? if it is cold take a hammer and hit the drums until the shoes free up.and stop putting on the emergency brake in the winter.adjust the adjustment wheel until the drum turns,if it will not turn adjust it the oppisite direction.

Possibly a frozen/siezed up emergency brake cable or rear brake(s)