An electric door lock actuator includes an outer casing which houses a reversible electric motor. The motor is coupled to a inertial clutch assembly and a gear train to reciprocally move a rack which extends outwardly from the casing between an advanced and a retracted position. The clutch assembly includes a drive gear coupled to the electric motor, and driven gear connected to operate the rack through the gear train. The clutch also includes an inertially operated clutch plate eccentrically mounted on the clutch drive gear and having a pair of arcuately spaced driving teeth alternately operably engageable with the driven clutch gear when the motor is driven in either a forward or a reverse direction. The clutch is operative to connect the motor to either advance or retract the rack when the motor shaft is operated in either a forward or a reverse direction. When the motor is not operating, the clutch disconnects the motor shaft from the rack such that the rack can move between the advanced and retracted positions without rotating the motor shaft.
