Topic:
Dashboard:
The word dashboard has an English origin. In the past it was the name for the raised front of a horse-drawn carriage or cart, which had to protect the coachman from mud and objects thrown up by the horse’s hooves. Nowadays the dashboard is a large, designed panel that contains all the necessary components that are useful while driving.
Various (often electrical) components are mounted in the dashboard, such as:
- Instrument cluster (with odometer or mile counter).
- Radio, sometimes with speakers at the top or bottom of the dashboard.
- Control unit for the air distribution flap / heating / air conditioning / heater fan.
- Switches for e.g. the rear window defroster, lighting and seat heating.
Behind the dashboard, which you actually never see, there are also components mounted, such as:
- A cross beam mounted between the A-pillars (from left to right) to which the dashboard and steering column are attached
- Steering column
- Fuses and a relay block (often accessible through a small hatch)
- Wiring harnesses
- Heater fan with ventilation ducts
- Glove compartment (sometimes cooled via the air ducts from the heater fan)
- Insulation to reduce, among other things, engine noise (and thus vibrations)
- Airbags (these tear out of the dashboard, so no covers that simply pop off)
