When I pull the parking brake, only the driver side tire won't turn. I need to depress the brake pedal hard and pull up with all my might to stop the car from moving on incline. Then, when I release it, the driver side stays tight and rubs when driven..
Any ideas at all. I have adjusted in and out at the adjustment screw on lever in console..

 

As I don't get Mazda 5 in my market, I assume you have 4 wheel disc brakes with the handbrake operating directly on the rear brake calipers?

Comon problem on these older mazda's for the internal handbrake mechanism in the rear calipers pack a sad.

Only fix is a full rebuild of the rear calipers.

 

Thanks, grim. That would make sense for the driver side not disengaging. I don't see how that would stop the passenger side from not engaging.

I will inspect the calipers closely and post more.

 

I start with jacking up and putting jack stands on each side rear, removing tires.

I checked the calipers as recommended. No problems, which I expected due to the normal braking operation.So I decided to remove both tension springs from top of calipers and release the parking brake cable end from actuated arms.

I also completely loosened the cable at the console control arm in the cabin. This allowed me to pull without tension, from front to back of car (end to end of cable routing tube) and vice versa. My suspicion was that corrosion or shear lack of application of the parking brake had led to a freeze of sorts in the cable tube.

After multiple pulls back and forth, using a pair of vice grips on the front end (in cabin) and one on each rear wheel cable end, I was able to free them up enough to set the brake and release with minimal need to pull back the rear cable ends after releasing. Then I reattached the front cable only, to the pull assembly, keeping the rears as is attached to vice grips.

I continued through maybe 20 to 25 cycles of the following:
- Pull up on the parking brake, then release.
- go to each rear cable and pull cable back through to release tension.
(At the beginning, this tension will require great force to free up cable, I used the round edge of the vice grip, held tightly against the brake pad assembly and pulled towards me, creating a fulcrum to increase my force)
- once I pulled the cable as much as it could move, I let the vice grip hand freely so that it will allow the cable to pulled back though when I repeat the process at the front again.

This I repeated until you can set the parking brake and release it without resistance on the rear rotors. It is time consuming and frustrating work, however, a whole lot cheaper and less labor intensive than a cable replacement.

Once I was satisfied with the free movement of the rotors after parking brake release, I put the cable end stop into the actuator arm, installed the return spring and put the tire back on. I leave the rear wheels suspended.

Then I moved to the front pull arm adjustment. I pulled up 1 click then check the rear wheels for movement. Then on to 2 clicks, 3 clicks and so on. Each time checking to be certain the rear wheels move freely after releasing the parking brake. Once satisfied, I remove from jack stands and start testing various grade levels and parking brake holding power. Success.

I adjusted my pull arm lever to achieve a level ground brake at 1 click. 3 clicks for a slight grade and a maximum of 5-6 clicks help on a severe grade. Each time I would make certain the vehicle moved freely after releasing the brake.

All is well now, can't speak to the length of time this will hold up, but I expect the more often I use the parking brake, the better it will move about within the protective tubing.

Good luck..