A glove compartment or glove box is a compartment built into the

dashboard For business applications, see Dashboard (business). A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel (IP), or fascia) is a control panel set within the central console of a vehicle or small aircraft. Usually located directly ahead of the drive ...

of an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

, located over the front-seat passenger's footwell, and often used for miscellaneous storage. The name derives from the original purpose of the compartment, to store

driving glove A driving glove is a hand covering, typically constructed of very thin, soft leather. It is used to give a driver better control of the vehicle by enhancing grip of the steering wheel and gear stick. History The driving glove made its appearanc ...

s. They were sometimes in a box on the floorboard near the driver, hence the word "glove box". In most vehicles, the glove compartment closes with a latch, with the option of being locked with a key (often desirable when using

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, valet de chambre was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "valet ...

service, when parking with the

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

top down, or when the compartment contains a mechanism to open the

trunk Trunk may refer to: Biology * Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso * Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure * Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy * Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant Computing * Trunk (software), in rev ...

Other local names

In Barbados, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, as well as parts of southern Minnesota and northwest

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

, the glove compartment is commonly referred to as a "

cubby-hole A cubby-hole, cubby-house or cubby is a small play house, or play area, for children. This may be constructed by the children themselves and used as a place of play. Autistic children can sometimes benefit from such places. Children may hav ...

" or "cubby". It is also occasionally called a '' jockey box'', especially in the upper Rocky Mountain states in the United States, such as

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

History

An early innovation was the addition of a storage compartment on the front or dashboard of the 1900 Packard. Driving gloves were considered necessary equipment in early cars, many of which were mostly open to the weather, to prevent the cooling effect of fast-moving air from numbing drivers' hands. Gloves are still considered necessary equipment on motorcycles for the same reason, although, unlike cars, most motorcycles do not have glove boxes. According to the

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

program ''

Penelope Keith Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, (née Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Good Life'' and '' To the M ...

and the Fast Lady (Aaron Syer)'',

Dorothy Levitt Dorothy Elizabeth Levitt (born Elizabeth Levi; 5 January 1882 – 17 May 1922) was a British racing driver and journalist. She was the first British woman racing driver, holder of the world's first water speed record, the women's world la ...

first coined the phrase ''glove compartment'' as she advised motorists to carry a number of pairs of gloves to deal with many eventualities. In some vehicles, the inside of the compartment's door may have an indented area for cups or beverage containers when open. These were for use while at a

drive-in A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollerskat ...

while the car was stationary, not in the modern applications of

cup holder A cup holder is a device, such as a zarf, to hold a cup or other drinking vessel. It may be free standing to hold cups securely on a desk or other flat surface, or in a tree style to store sets of cups in kitchens. They may be built into automob ...

s. Some glove compartments have sections for holding a pen or pencil. There were storage compartments on the backs of the seats to hold a woman's bag or rain apparel in the 1955 and 1956 Dodge LaFemme. The 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham featured a cocktail set with magnetized cups in its dashboard compartment. In some newer cars, the glove compartment may be temperature-controlled, so that it can be used as a cooler for beverages such as on the

Dodge Caliber The Dodge Caliber is a compact hatchback manufactured and marketed by Chrysler's Dodge division from model years 2007 to 2012, replacing the Dodge Neon and Chrysler PT Cruiser. Following the Caliber concept which debuted at the 2005 Geneva M ...

. Some cars now have multiple compartments. In the past, glove compartments typically contained an internal light. This light automatically turned on when the box was opened, helping to search its contents. From the 2000s, many manufacturers have not provided this light, to cut costs, even in luxury vehicles.

Other local names

History

References

See also