When it comes to gadgets, Techeye is a pretty reliable source of knowledge. After all, we've borrowed, stolen and/or nuzzled most of the worthwhile gizmos to come out in the last two decades. We've even studied the people behind the techno-bling, people like Skype's Janus Friis and Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, delving deep into their motivations, their torments and (mainly) their garbage. 

Our knowledge does have a few weak points, however. Techeye knows next to nothing about depilatory technology or its antithesis, hair replacement technology (though we support the latter on a moral basis). We also pathologically ignore anything covered in rhinestones.

These things aside, our greatest failing as a journalist on the technology beat is our sheer ambivalence towards automobiles. When the McLaren F1 first came out in 1992, for example, we got excited about its Kenwood sound system. We've got a thing for suicide doors, but they seem to be exclusively old-tech. And the odd concept car strikes our fancy, but those things, by definition, never make it into mass production.

Techeye may not love cars, but the one time someone tried to run us over we did get pretty excited. The driver of the car in question, a green Ford Taurus, seemed to think we'd make a handsome hood ornament, and accelerated as soon as she saw us. Our head survived the experience, thanks to the plushy "Michigan: the Mitten State" hat we had on at the time, but our left buttock suffered a fatal bruising. The upside is that our current buttockal prosthesis also functions as a Pez dispenser.

This week, in order to overcome our own professional weaknesses, we chose to write about cars. And, in memory of our late tokus (the anniversary of whose demise is swiftly approaching), we decided to look into the latest innovations in automotive safety. That's how we came across Sweden-based Autoliv, a firm which designs and manufactures auto safety systems.

One of Autoliv's more intriguing products is its Active Hood, a system which reacts when a pedestrian has been struck, raising two small airbags in the rear part of the hood. This creates a flexible surface for the unfortunate pedestrian's head which, although less pleasant than a pillow, is probably softer on the head than an intake manifold (which sounds awfully solid, whatever it is).

The Active Hood is already available in some vehicles, most notably the Jaguar XK. Autoliv has also got airbags which deploy from the front bumper and grill of a car (pictured), although these haven't yet made it to market, and the firm is working on an infrared-camera system which will help identify and avoid pedestrians at night, based on their heat signatures.

It seems that the roads are getting safer, slowly butt surely.