How To Prevent Your Car's Dashboard From Cracking In The Sun

Most car owners would tell you that properly cleaning and caring for a vehicle can sometimes feel like a full-time job. It is, of course, easy to expend most of your energy fretting over things like regularly checking and changing a car's engine oil, rotating its tires, and tending to any number of a vehicle's other major maintenance needs. But in all that fuss, it can be easy to overlook something simple like keeping up the appearance of a vehicle's interior components.

More specifically, it's safe to assume many car owners don't do quite enough to ensure their vehicle's dashboard is both carefully maintained and protected from one of its biggest enemies, the sun. Yes, a cracked dashboard is often the direct result of excessive exposure to the sun, which is also a primary reason some dashboards become faded over time. If you've experienced such deterioration in a vehicle of your own, you know few things can skew the aesthetic appeal of an interior towards the negative faster than a faded or cracked dashboard. 

You likely also know it's all but impossible to undo such damage after it's begun. While it may not be possible to fully restore a dashboard that's succumbed to the damaging rays of the sun, there are steps car owner's can take to limit the damage to a dashboard before it happens. Here are a few ways you can prevent your car's dashboard from cracking in the sun. 

While things like a ceramic coat can help limit sun damage to your car's paint job, the best way to keep your car's dashboard looking fresh is to simply keep the sun from reaching it. There are several ways to accomplish that feat, and one of the most practical is to use a window shade or a full-windshield sunshade. 

Thankfully, window shades and sunshades are also budget-friendly options that are readily available for purchase through countless retail outlets like Amazon, and are manufactured to fit virtually all makes and models of vehicle. However, if you're willing to go the extra mile — and likely spend a few extra bucks — in the name of protecting your car from the sun — the more extreme sun blocking option is to outfit your vehicle with a full body cover. 

While car covers are as easy to come by as window shades on the retail market, they are nowhere near as practical, requiring owner's to deal with securing the cover over their car anytime they park in the sun. Likewise, covers require more storage space than some car owner's may be willing to sacrifice in their trunk. Still, if protection from the sun is your ultimate goal, there's no more effective option than covering your vehicle entirely.

On the subject of glaringly obvious solutions to keeping the sun off your dashboard, sunshades and full-body car covers are arguably not the easiest of the available options. In fact, you may not need to buy shades or covers at all, as it sometimes just makes more sense to keep your car out of the sunlight by parking in the shade. 

This may not always be a viable option, as some parking lots just don't offer many options in terms of blockage from the blazing sun above. However, if you can find just one tree to park under in a parking lot, it could go a long way in preventing damage to your dashboard. The same is true if you have the chance to park on a tree-lined neighborhood street. If your home has a garage attached, parking your vehicle inside instead of in the driveway is an effective way to limit sun exposure.

Likewise, in regions that are more prone to excessive sunlight, many parking lots are now equipped with sun shields that keep the sun off your vehicle in the daylight hours. If that's not an option, a parking deck or an underground garage are ideal options for shaded parking. Unfortunately, public parking decks and garages tend to charge an hourly or daily fee to use the facilities. Likewise, parking structures can be optimal locales for car thieves to do their illegal deeds, so you'll want to take those factors into account before you park your car, truck, or SUV there. 

As is the case with virtually every facet of keeping a vehicle in good working order, proper cleaning and maintenance is an invaluable step in ensuring your dashboard can withstand exposure to the damaging rays of the sun. First and foremost, keeping your dashboard free of standing dust and dirt should be the goal of any car owner as those elements can encourage scratches, cracks, and fissures. You should also make sure your dash is not exposed to excessive moisture, as the combination of moisture and heavy sunlight is a recipe for cracking.

It is, of course, all-but impossible to keep your car's dashboard completely out of the sunlight, because the dash will be exposed while you are driving the vehicle. You can battle even that level of sun exposure by equipping your dash with specially made dashboard mat covers, and by treating the surface of your dashboard with wipe-on protectants and conditioners.

There are several UV-protecting products to choose from on the market. For most dashboards, you'll want a product designed for use on hard surfaces instead of those produced to treat leather and fabric surfaces like upholstery and steering wheel covers. Meanwhile, conditioners are designed more for the purpose of restoring a dashboard that's already showing signs of sun damage. With any luck, regular use of these products will help keep those dreaded sun-dried dashboard cracks at bay as long as you own your car.