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Why Do We Call It a ‘Dashboard’?

November 25, 2012 By Nadeem Muaddi

Like most people, you probably use the terms “dashboard” and “instrument panel” interchangeably without giving much thought to where the two words come from. However, their origins are quite interesting and definitely something every auto trimmer should know.

The word “dashboard” was originally used to describe the wooden board carriage makers attached to the front of carriages to prevent mud and rocks from being splashed (or “dashed”) onto drivers and their passengers by the horses that pulled them about. In essence, dashboards served as mud flaps for horses’ hooves.

While the term “dashboard” didn’t work its way into popular English until the 1800’s, the concept of a “dashboard” existed long before then. In fact, Mesopotamian chariots dating as far back as 3,000 BC employed similar guards against mud and rocks.

It wasn’t until the early 1900’s – when carriages became dependent on motors instead of horses – that “dashboards” were repurposed to house vehicle instruments, like speedometers and gas gauges.

Shortly after, the word “carriage” was shortened to “car”; the term “instrument panel” replaced “dashboard”; and windshields were developed to guard drivers and passengers from light debris.

Still, the term “dashboard” never quite disappeared.

Filed Under: Archive, Industry History, Interesting Read Tagged With: Auto Trim, Auto Upholstery, Car Interior, Dashboard, Etymology

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gjudd says

    November 26, 2012 at 9:11 pm

    Learn something new every day!

    • Nadeem Muaddi says

      November 26, 2012 at 10:34 pm

      Glad you enjoyed it. The etymology of words really fascinates me.

    • Chassidy says

      August 8, 2017 at 2:58 pm

      Learned something new today. Very interesting… Thank u!

      • CHUCK says

        February 5, 2021 at 9:23 am

        I refer to the top of the “instrument panel” as the “dash” or the “dashboard”, as in “just put your gloves on the dash”. I seem never to use the term “instrument panel”.

  2. acq says

    May 30, 2014 at 4:09 pm

    Interesting! Thanks

  3. R. T. Watson says

    April 30, 2015 at 6:41 am

    I don’t think I have ever used the words instrument panel. When I hear them I think of an airplane. I have always used the word dashboard to mean just the top area next to the bottom of the window and protruding several inches towards the driver and/or passenger(s). I’m sure you are correct, but I think I grew up with the usage I have described.

  4. Cort Johnson says

    March 18, 2017 at 5:45 pm

    Wow…fascinating how some words came about. Thanks!

  5. sharyn wisdom says

    March 19, 2017 at 8:07 pm

    i suspected as much but having it as the “puzzler” on the click and clack brothers radio show my curiosity was peaked

    • Stevie says

      April 7, 2018 at 3:11 pm

      Piqued.

  6. J P Chalmers says

    February 16, 2018 at 12:49 pm

    The reason I looked this up was due to the lyrics in the song The Surrey with the Fringe on Top (Oaklahoma). Therein part of a lyric is – ‘The dashboard is genuine leather’.

    • BruceM says

      September 10, 2022 at 7:02 pm

      Haha – me too what a co-incidence – some 4 years later!

  7. Diego Montoya says

    September 20, 2019 at 5:29 pm

    When I was a kid, the storage space in a dashboard was called a ‘dash box’ by regular folks and the ‘glove compartment’ by those more sophisticated. Wonder how many people carry gloves today.

    • wimpie says

      May 19, 2020 at 4:30 pm

      Today you can put anything in it. Candy, guns, condoms…..

  8. mcafee.com/activate says

    November 29, 2019 at 1:44 pm

    Login into mcafee.com/activate for Mcafee antivirus download, installation, and activation. You can follow the steps easily to activate the Mcafee antivirus program in the right ways.

  9. Tim c says

    April 16, 2020 at 1:22 pm

    Remember the Meatloaf song, “paradise by the DASHBOARD light??

    A ROCK song too!……..lol

  10. Amram says

    February 25, 2021 at 4:16 am

    Interesting, thank you

  11. Alex says

    January 19, 2022 at 8:49 am

    I always thought it was because you can dash your head on it if you break too hard ! 😉

    But seriously, in a similar way the computer “firewall” got its name from the firewall being the protective bit between the hot engine and the passengers.

  12. Øyvind Tveit says

    January 26, 2022 at 8:37 am

    I learnt that the word dashboard came from the old Norwegian word daskarbordir – which was a board on the viking ship that protected against sea spray. Anyone else heard that story?

    • Gerald Tosh says

      May 24, 2023 at 6:43 pm

      Interesting but words are made as a representation of what something is.
      Here’s one. (Electricity)
      EL ec Tri city says
      THE=(el) eternal creator 3 cities.
      Nobody thinks anymore.
      Numbers 1-9=45. A 45 is a square.
      The numbers are based off Angles.
      1 z M you get the idea.

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