Illuminating instrument panel with convex cover

摘要

An instrument panel has a front side for facing toward a driver and a back side for facing away from the driver, a light source, a subdial surface in front of the light source, and a transparent cover in front of and spaced away from the subdial surface. The transparent cover is substantially (preferably, at least 50%) rounded outwardly toward the driver. The instrument panel may include graphics on or in the cover. Due to the curvature of the cover, the graphics may have an outermost portion which is closest to the driver and an innermost portion which is further from the driver. Preferably, the outermost portion of the graphics is narrower relative to the innermost portion so that the graphics appear to be in a plane parallel with the driver. There may be at least three horizontally-spaced transparent covers on one instrument panel, wherein at least one of the covers is an inboard cover and at least two covers are outboard covers, one outboard cover on one side of the inboard cover and the other outboard cover being on the other side of the inboard cover. The outboard covers may be positioned inwardly toward the driver relative to the inboard cover.