The Instrument Panel Of Your Vehicle

By Zach Jacobs

There are a lot of measuring gadgets if you take a look at your car's dashboard. This whole panel with all the measuring device on it is called the instrument panel. The main function of the instrument panel is to make sure that the drivers will see the light indicators that are indicatory of car problems. The light indicators may blink or may not light at all and the arrows will move to indicate if your car's oil pressure and fuel are still okay or not so you can have it checked.

The thing that would come into your mind is how do these indicators get the information from different car parts. The answer is that there is the instrument panel working hand-in-hand with the engine computer. Information gathered within different car parts is done by the engine computer and then the reading will be shown on the instrument cluster.

There are several engine computer parts that serve as sources of this information and all of them have different tasks to be done. For example, the ECU is gathering information for the coolant's temperature while the transmission controller will be focused on getting data on speed.

The gathered information from these parts is then distributed and collected in the communications bus. This data being sent by the engine computer contains two parts, which are called the header and data. The header serves as the numeric identification of the data that will be sent. For instance, the temperature data will be dispatched to the communication bus by the car computer. With the header, the communications bus can detect that the information received is about the coolant's temperature.

The data on the other hand is the exact numeric value of the data to be sent. Take 200 degrees Fahrenheit temperature as an example. The computer reads the measurement of the temperature to be 200 degrees, it will then relay the 200 numerical value to the communications bus.

From the communications bus, the information will now then be distributed to the appropriate gauges in the instrument panel. This is the information that you can see while you are driving.

Since the instrument panel plays a crucial role for your car, you should make sure that your instrument cluster is performing well. Make time to have it regularly checked, maintained and calibrated for you to be able to get the precise value for you to always stay safe on the road.

This is how the car engine computers work hand in hand with the instrument panel to come up with the needed car readings. Henceforth, these essential car parts should be well coordinated with each other so that you will always be informed if the car is working well. Nothing can be better than keeping your car sound for your own safety. - 29952

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