A motor vehicle’s instrument panel, also known as its dashboard, is the vehicle’s principal control station. It is located in front of the driver to allow easy access to most of the controls. The instrument panel houses a number of essential instruments and controls that are required for the vehicle to operate.

A typical instrument panel includes the steering wheel and the cluster of instrument controls that

are frequently contained within it in modern vehicles.  Other instrument panel controls include heating, air conditioning and ventilation controls, light controls, audio equipment and satellite navigation controls.

Other components of the instrument panel include a number of different gauges, including the tachometer, odometer, tachometer and the vehicle’s fuel gauge, which displays the amount of petrol or diesel in the vehicle’s fuel tank.

In addition to the gauges on the instrument panel there are also several warning lights. These include fuel warning lights, oil pressure lights, tyre pressure warning lights, engine malfunction lights and airbag fault lights.

Finally, there is a range of informational indicators, including handbrake engagement lights, gear indicators, headlight and full beam indicators and lights to indicate the engagement of front and rear windscreen heaters.

Last but not least, the instrument panel of most vehicles includes a cigar lighter, although this is now more commonly used to charge mobile devices than for its original function!