After decades of trying to reduce injuries and deaths through the use of safety belts and air bags, automakers and their suppliers are increasingly shifting their focus to crash avoidance.

Many car-safety regulators and industry officials are convinced that the best way to continue lowering the highway death toll is simply to reduce the number of crashes. About 90 percent of crashes are caused by driver error.

"If we want to continue this (trend), we need to prevent the accident in the first place," says Richard Lind of auto supplier Delphi.

The latest technologies allow your car to detect the dangers you face on the road better and faster than you could. Among the emerging tricks of newer autos: Recognizing what you're about to collide with and cinching your seat belt; closing your sunroof; and applying your brakes to prepare for a crash in case it can't be avoided.

The trend of using radar to detect and warn drivers of hazards has been evident for a few years. It began, as usual, with the most expensive luxury cars. But the shift toward crash-avoidance features will accelerate in coming months.

If drivers of the '06 Acura RL, on sale this month, are about to crash, the brakes will automatically be applied to help avert the collision. Five 2006 Infiniti cars and trucks alert the driver if the car strays from its lane.

The 2007 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which goes on sale early next year, will further extend futuristic auto safety. The top-of-the-line S-Class has cruise control that automatically readjusts back to the original speed, even in stop-and-go traffic. (It can be used at speeds of up to 125 mph.)

The car also has an advanced version of so-called "pre-crash sensing." In addition to adjusting your seat and closing the sunroof when a crash seems imminent, this feature closes the windows and can deploy a seat cushion that works with the side air bags.

Even though these cars seem to have safety minds of their own, they don't really take over the driving, which is often a worry among auto enthusiasts. That concern is "part of the reason these systems are being introduced slowly and very deliberately," says Tom Baloga, BMW's general manager of safety engineering. "It's really important that people don't get the feeling that the car is being taken over by a computer."

Honda advanced safety chief Chuck Thomas adds: "Everyone wonders how the customer is going to respond."

Proponents of crash-avoidance technology have been heartened by evidence that technology known as stability control saves even more lives than air bags do. Stability control uses braking and engine power to keep vehicles from veering off course. It's especially helpful in preventing rollover crashes, which account for about a third of all deaths in passenger vehicles.

Lind, Delphi's director of advanced safety engineering, says the key to preventing crashes is to give drivers ample warning so they have a chance to act. All the futuristic crash-avoidance technology will eventually do that - and more. Even if drivers ignore alerts, such as yellow or red lights on the dashboard or windshield, the warnings become harder to miss until the car independently takes steps to avoid a crash.