Stretched Parking-Brake Cables?

Yes, mine also need replacing. I wonder if anyone makes a "cable shortner", I recall seeing such things for other uses?

NOTE: One thing I learned is the adjustment at the brake lever must be loosened WAAAAAAY loose before adjusting the rear wheel adjusters, otherwise you'll get exactly what you describe. Try backing the handle adjuster way off, then redo the rear wheel adjuters, see what happens?

though the two braking system share the use of the rear brake caliper/pads/disk, they engage the rear brakes using one of two different systems. The parking brake engages the rear brakes using the parking brake handle and a set of cables. this is separate from the hydraulic system used when you engage the brake pedal. the parking brake system is very much like the system used on bicycles, and the cables can fail due to being stretch (lots of use), or from become corroded (little use) over time. I have found

to be a inexpensive place to purchase oem mazda parking brake cables... about $50 per side. if you look at the pictures of the cables on their site you will see they have terminated ends that provide a certain amount of adjustment... but once you have adjusted them to the minimum length there is nothing that you can do other than replace them.

rockauto has aftermarket left and rear parking brake cables for about $30 for each side... and they sell the other cable for front of the system as well.

They can be repaired.

I wouldn't recommend this if it were other than the parking brake but since a parking brake failure is very unlikely to result in an accident....... The end of the cable can be cut off a very small amount and a new end fabricated and welded on. Any motorcyle shop that's been in business for several years (before hydraulic clutches and brakes) can do this or tell you where it can be done.

If you have the capabilities to do this yourself it could be cost effective, if not it may not save you enough money to bother with it but it's something to consider.

My '01 NA had stretched cables at 124K and had I kept it any longer I would have had to replace them but I traded it in in '06 on a new one. I suspect that this isn't a rare problem.