In a method and a device (12) for automatically actuating a closing element (1) of a vehicle (10), the closing element is actuated when a movement of an object corresponding to a predefined movement profile is registered in an area surrounding the vehicle and when at the same time a vehicle key assigned to the vehicle is registered. In this case, it is firstly possible for the movement of the object in the area around the vehicle (10) to be monitored by the interaction between a capacitive sensor (5) and an optical sensor (4, 7), or for the movement profile first to have an approach to the vehicle (10) and a subsequent movement away from the vehicle (10), so that the closing element (1) is only actuated after the movement away from the vehicle (10).