If you own a pickup, you've likely used its tailgate as a seat, a table for tailgating, even as a mobile workbench. But for the most part, the only function it serves is to keep stuff from sliding out the back of your truck's bed.

But a truck tailgate can provide a handy place to store tools, jumper cables, even file folders and a change of clothes when it's equipped with a GateMate.

The GateMate is made from heavy-duty, high-impact acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic. It attaches to the tailgate and provides three storage compartments with hinged and lockable covers. Each of the compartments is 14 inches square and about 2 inches deep.

The GateMate is produced by BAK Industries of San Fernando, Calif. The company was founded in 1988 to manufacture pickup bed liners for export to Europe and Central and South America. In the mid-1990s, it added product lines for domestic vehicles, especially pickup bed caps. For the last five or six years, its specialty has been a variety of hard-surface truck bed tonneau covers.

Company founder and owner Julian Maimin said the GateMate was designed to fit so that it does not interfere with the use of a tonneau, but provides handy and secure storage for and access to smaller items.

Though currently sized to fit late model full-size pickups, Maimin said his company has recently designed a similar unit for compact and mid-size pickups and that production begins soon.

The GateMate is priced at less than $75.

For information, visit www.bakliner.com or call (818) 365-9000.