the locking direction when the switch 5 is switched to the second position the capacitor 3 is connected in parallel with the motors 1 and discharges through the motors 1 the discharging current is directed oppositely to the charging current and drives the motors 1 in the opposite direction to release the locks the motors 1 are driven merely by a current pulse during locking as well as during release so that they do not have to be designed to handle a steady load current the duration of the drive pulse is determined essentially by the capacity of the capacitor 3 and the internal resistance of the motors 1 the switch 5 may comprise a commercially available microswitch which can be activated for example by a lock cylinder in a vehicle door on the driver 39 s side this microswitch can be constructed so as to assume a rest state at either of the locking and the release positions fig2 shows another embodiment of a central locking system which differs from the system of fig1 in that it can be placed in a lock or a release state by several switches 13 each of which is located at a different door of the vehicle the switches 13 have a center rest position to which they are returned by way of the lock cylinder.