The invention relates to a method for the position-dependent control of a mobile element in a vehicle, which can be displaced by means of an electrically driven displacement device. Said displacement device has a plurality of different modes of operation, and characteristics of a driving signal of the displacement device, especially a ripple of a driving current, are evaluated in order to determine the position of the element. According to the invention, a characteristic quantity (Pi) influencing the driving movement of the displacement device, and/or a characteristic value (Pi) characterising the displacement device are evaluated in order to determine an error value of the determined position of the mobile element, and the operating modes of the displacement device are controlled according to the determined error value. The inventive method enables the different modes of operation of the displacement device to be controlled, in a simple and cost-effective manner, according to the parameters (characteristic quantities and/or characteristic values) (e.g. electric wiring fluctuations, number of reversing processes, operating temperature etc.), in such a way that following or during critical operating conditions of the displacement device, the safety requirements in terms of the operation of the displacement device are met every time. This can be carried out, for example, by the deactivation of the automatic operation of the displacement device or by the normalisation of the position of the mobile element according to the determined error value.