From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdashboarddash‧board /ˈdæʃbɔːd $ -bɔːrd/ noun [countable] TTCthe part of a car in front of the driver, which has controls on it
Examples from the Corpus
dashboard• How about the thunk of a hot lighter snapping up from a car dashboard?• Mattie pressed the automatic device on her dashboard and the garage door eased upwards for the Lincoln to slide smoothly in.• The bus driver washed the windows as a classical music tape played from his dashboard.• Jaguar sells its leaping kitty hood ornaments mounted on a block made from the walnut that goes into its dashboards.• She shot a glance at the beribboned box on the dashboard.• Sly hit the various telephonic security switches that had started flashing on the dashboard.• Upon the dashboard of a black Cadillac sedan parked in a nearby side-road a green light began to flash furiously.• The dashboard remains silver because it was never changed when the car was resprayed white.Origin dashboard (1800-1900) → DASH1 “to strike with small drops of liquid” ((17-19 centuries)) + board (because it was originally a board to stop mud getting into a vehicle) 