Abstract: A motor vehicle lock, especially a tailgate lock in which the opening motion can be triggered by a pure switching measure and then proceeds automatically without fault, preferably without using microswitches. This motor vehicle lock has a lock latch (1) with a front catch (3) and a main catch (4), a detent pawl (6, 6') with a catch projection (9) and an actuating surface (10), as well as a drive element (11) and a driver (12, 12') located thereon. The driver (12, 12') strikes an actuating surface (10) by turning in one direction and lifts the catch projection (9) of the detent pawl (6) out of the main catch (4) and turns off the drive after the lifting process, with the detent pawl (6, 6') remaining in the lifted position.