Subject:
Dashboard:
The word dashboard has an English meaning. Historically, it was the term for the upstanding front of a horse-drawn carriage or cart, used to protect the coachman from mud and objects thrown up by the horse’s hooves. Today, the dashboard is a large designed panel where all the necessary components useful while driving are installed.
The dashboard houses various (often electrical) components, such as:
- Instrument panel (with odometer or speedometer).
- Radio, sometimes with speakers at the top or bottom of the dashboard.
- Control unit for the air distribution flap / heating / air conditioning / heater motor.
- Switches for, for example, the rear window defroster, lights, and seat heating.
Behind the dashboard, which you usually never see, components are also mounted, such as:
- A crossbar fixed 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 via a panel)
- Wiring harnesses
- Heater motor with ventilation channels
- Dashboard glove box (Sometimes cooled via ducting from the heater motor)
- Insulation to mainly counteract engine noise (and thus vibrations)
- Airbags (these tear through the dashboard, so no covers that pop off)
