(2003 chevy avalanche 1500 ~ 67,000 miles) 1. this was a spontaneous failure - that is to say, there was no event leading up to it. 2. there is a spring-clip that retains the emergency brake shoe. this spring-clip (on the driver-side, rear wheel) came apart, allowing the e-brake shoe to come loose. this had 2 results: 1) the e-brake shoe fell out of position, wedged itself somewhere inside of the drum, and then the brake-shoe & drum ground against each other until they were both extensively damaged and/or destroyed, 2) the entire emergency-brake system was rendered completely useless. 3. the damage from the failure can be repaired by replacing the emergency brake shoe, brake rotor and spring-clip. (i will pro-actively replace the spring-clip on the passenger side which has not yet failed). the old parts are still available. i do not know if this spring-clip has been redesigned or not. *tr