www.alphadictionary.com

Dashboard apparently comes from the days of buggies, when it was what protected one from being dashed (another word for splash). My hopes of discovering how this came to be an instrument panel were dashed, as the "d" pages of OED are acting very strangely.

Only two and a half years later, but here's an explanation:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/cwak.htm#N5

Thanks you old seeker of ancient posts.

Thanks you old seeker of ancient posts.

I try, and I can be quite trying, too.

Welcome back. Have you been hibernating?