While we associate car dashboards with the array of digital screens and analog gauges that inform us about speed, fuel, and engine status, the term’s origin is far more rudimentary and connected to the very act of controlling a horse-drawn carriage. The original ‘dashboard’ was a physical barrier, a plank of wood or leather, positioned across the front of a carriage. Its primary purpose was not to display information, but to shield the driver and passengers from the ‘dashing’ or ‘dust’ kicked up by the horses’ hooves. This protective shield, therefore, became known as the dashboard, a name that has persisted through the evolution of transportation, even as its function has dramatically transformed from a shield against the elements to a hub of technological information.
Adapted from: Motor1.com - Articles
