Cracking dashboards is not as common in newer model cars but it’s still a problem for many older model used cars. While it may be more of an appearance problem than resulting in any issue with safety, having a cracked dashboard is still very annoying.
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This is especially because the dashboard sits in a strategic position where eyes immediately go, potentially leading you to stare at a giant crack across the plastic every time you or someone gets in the car.
Besides the materials used, there can be several factors that cause a dashboard to crack, and knowing what those are can help us prevent it from happening in general maintenance. Below are some of them.
Sunlight Damages the Car’s Interior Dashboard
The UV rays produced by the sun are one of your car’s biggest enemies. It can cause your car’s paint to fade, the clear coat to fail, and a handful of other problems. Among those problems, the UV rays can also cause the dashboard to crack, especially if it is plastic.
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The sun’s harmful rays affect the structural integrity of the plastic over time, leaving it dried and easily breakable, and therefore more likely to crack.
Heat Affects Car’s Interior Dashboard
While we associate sun exposure with heat, the UV ray causes different problems than heat does. Sun exposure can be reduced or minimized by using a sunshade when parked. Heat is a little bit more difficult to avoid, especially if you live in harsher, hotter climates. Like the sun, heat can alter the plastic of the dashboard chemically, causing it to turn grey and ashy, and eventually crack.
Repairs and Prevention for Cracking Car Dashboard
In some instances, smaller cracks can be repaired with some at-home remedies that you can buy from any car parts stores near you. For more serious damage, sometimes the entire dashboard needs to be replaced, and that can cost a lot of money. Then, of course, if you just don’t care, you could leave the dashboard cracked and go about your day.
For prevention, there isn’t much you can do to help keep the temperature in your car down. However, putting up a sunshade on the dashboard area could help the temperature from regularly traipsing inside. Either way, having a sunshade will protect the dashboard from the sun’s harmful UV rays.
Conclusion
Even the toughest plastics can easily damage and break with heat and exposure to UV rays, and the dashboard of your car probably receives a lot of both. While we can minimize the risk of our dashboards cracking, sometimes it can’t be prevented altogether.
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