The term âdashboardâ didnât originate with traffic jams that made drivers want to dash their head against something hard in the hopes of losing consciousness, but instead was passed down to us from the horse and buggy days. Fans of the song âJingle Bellsâ have long known that the proper speed for a one-horse open sleigh was âdashing,â but when horses started to dash along oâer the fields, bells on bobtails werenât the only things ringing. The cries of the driver and passenger likely also rang out as they got splattered with mud, meaning that spirits were definitely not bright, and laughing all the way wasnât an option. So along came a piece of wood that protected the buggyâs passengers from all the mud and slush, which was known as the dashboard.
ÂWhen cars replaced carriages, that dashboard came too, as an ordinary slab of wood under the windshield. Dashboard displays, or instrument panels, were a little bit longer in coming. If you needed to know how much gas was left in an early car, you put a stick in your gas tank, and if you wanted to know the temperature, you went to the radiator itself [source: Lamm]. By the 1930s, though, cars started coming with gauges, and by the mid-30âs, all cars included what has been graciously termed the âidiot light,â or a warning light indicating that something is wrong with the vehicle [source: Lamm]. Even in the present day, manufacturers are tinkering with the instrument panel, moving it to the center of the dashboard or packing it full of technology that may make keeping your eyes on the road harder than ever.
So whatâs taking up that valuable real estate on the dashboard?
Car Dashboard Display
At minimum, your dashboard display has a speedometer and a fuel gauge. In addition to those gauges, the display will feature some combination of a tachometer, charging system gauge, oil pressure gauge and engine temperature gauge. Letâs have a quick dashboard confessional that covers what each part does.
The speedometer, one of the most frequently used tools, tells you how fast youâre going. You can read more about this bane of a lead foot driverâs existence in How Speedometers Work. Traditionally, this gauge relied upon a cable that connected the speedometer to a gear inside the transmission, but now, electric sensors are used with most dashboard devices. Instrument panels basically have a feed of constantly updated information from around the car; in fact, about one-half of a vehicleâs total wiring can be found in the dashboard display [source: Klier, Rubenstein].
Your fuel gauge can make the difference between a happy ending romantic comedy (the fella has enough gas to make it to the church in time to get the girl) or a scary horror movie (couple runs out of gas near an old abandoned warehouse full of werewolves). If you think your fuel gauge is playing mind games with you, youâre right. This gauge deliberately stays on full to three-quarters full for a long time to give you the sense that youâre getting good mileage [source: Ofria]. And of course, as Cosmo Kramer proved beyond a shadow of a doubt on âSeinfeld,â you can keep driving once the needle drops below empty â though only about 1 gallon or so [source: Buss]. Fuel up on more knowledge about this instrument at How Fuel Gauges Work.
If you drive a stick, youâre probably well familiar with the tachometer, which measures revolutions per minute (RPM) in the engine. Knowing this information can help you shift at a time when youâll get maximum fuel economy.
Ever needed a jump when your battery went dead? You might have paid more attention to the charging system gauge or warning light afterwards. The amount of electrical current that the charging system provides to your vehicleâs battery is monitored by either a voltmeter, which measures the voltage in the charging system, or an ammeter, which measures amperage leaving the battery. When the battery is using too much of its own juice and depleting itself without getting refilled by the charging system, then these gauges or warning lights should alert you to the problem.
While many of us strive to lower our blood pressure, we should never strive to have low oil pressure. The oil pressure gauge measures oil pressure in pounds per square inch, and youâre going to have a big problem if that pressure falls in a car. Unless you want to destroy your vehicle, stop the car as soon as possible when this gauge alerts you to a problem; youâll likely be warned via an oil lamp warning light in the dash. Similarly, if your engine gets too hot, you should also get off the road as soon as you can. Your temperature gauge, which measures the temperature of engine coolant, will alert you to a dangerous situation.
There are a host of other warning lights designed to let you know about the status of the car. Though there have been some efforts to standardize these lights in all makes and models, they are currently personalized to some extent by car manufacturers. You might see these lights for everything from a reminder that someoneâs not wearing a seatbelt to a warning that tire pressure is low. For more details about what a certain light is trying to tell you, consult your carâs manual.
ÂThe configuration and arrangement of these instruments varies according to each car. In fact, it may surprise you to learn how much time carmakers spend designing dashboard displays. Read on to find out what makes the cut now, and how that might change in the future.
For more Detail:Â How Dashboard Displays Work
