Hand brake jammed... cut the cable???
 

Hey all. I am a new SAAB owner. It's a 2003 9-3 (duh), it was left to me by my late Grandpa. Well anyways, looks as if he picked a bad year to buy a car... the 9-3 has been nothing but problems since I took over ownership. I've had the notorious gas gauge failure, false warnings on the dashboard display, and now the hand brake has jammed on me.

I've tried very hard to get it loose, moving it in all directions. I decided to take the trim off the areas surrounding the brake itself in an attempt to figure out what the problem is. This is under the brake/cubby area:

Attachment 201


It get's worse. The car is almost 10 years old now, and warranties have expired. I cannot even take the car to it's dealership - the place has gone out of business. The closest place to me for an import like this is a good 35 miles, the cost to have it towed, and replaced is just too much for me right now and not really an option. I need to continue to drive to work and such... it's been 3 days now and I can't keep bumming rides forever. So my questions are these :

1) the wire in my picture is located at the botton of the parking brake, and it has a very very tight wire leading to I'd assume the rear rotors. Everything is telling me that it is the parking brake cable, but I have absolutely no solid way of knowing. In my above pic, is that in fact the hand brake cable that is keeping my car from moving??

2) although I know it may not be recommended, but if it is the hand brake cable, can I cut it loose and be able to move my car once again? I do not have really any other options at this point.

Please help!!

Anyone??

did you ever figure it out?

Wish someone would answer this. After mine stuck I never pull it cause it always sticks. Hasn't someone figured this out?
Lurking