Understanding Your Dashboard

The dashboard is deceptive-it's neatly and clearly organized, and yet many people overlook or misunderstand its components. It's like an automotive hospital monitor. Though it can't detect every problem, you will probably see warning signals there first-if you know what you're looking for.

The 'hands-at-ten-and-two' rule for steering is often ignored because it goes unexplained. This placement gives you the easiest control over the car and provides the least stressful position for your arms. It also protects your arms from the airbag. Though the airbag is possibly the most important safety feature, it deploys at over two hundred miles an hour. If you drive with the one hand loped over the wheel in the 'twelve' position and you get in an accident, the airbag will most likely break your arm, even as it protects you.

The speedometer is the most frequently looked-upon dashboard gauge. Many people view it as infallibly accurate but, as with any other computerized mechanism, there is a margin for error. Having a GPS with the capacity to read speed is an excellent way to monitor the actual pace of your car. GPS can also have the capacity to convert miles into kilometers, which is convenient if you are a frequent Canada visitor and your speedometer doesn't have both measurements listed.

The tachometer measures revolutions per minute and is usually directly to the left of the speedometer. The faster you accelerate, the faster and higher the needle will climb. You can reach unsafe RPM (usually highlighted in red) and this can have lasting negative effects on your engine-usually superfluous wear-and-tear.

The odometer cannot, as some believe, take off miles if you drive in reverse. Used car fraud has been cut down because odometers can no longer be cracked open and turned back by hand; most are digital. It is not impossible, however, to change these figures-merely more difficult.

The temperature gauge measures the engine coolant. After you get your car running, the needle should be in the middle at all times. If it goes hotter, your engine could overheat. The best thing to do (apart from shop work) is pull over, turn off your car and let it cool down. This more frequently occurs in the summer when temperatures are already high.

There are countless other control buttons and lights one needs to keep an eye on-some for functional purposes and some for comfort purposes. Apart from heating and air conditioning, lighting and audio, and seating positions, you have windshield defrosters and wipers, four-way flashers, headlights, and warning lights for oil pressure, the parking brake, engine malfunction, and seat belts. There are numerous others. The best thing to do is look at the manual of the car (or if you don't still have it, at least look at your state DMV booklet that has a guide to most of the symbols) in order to know where everything is, what it does, and how it can best serve you.