A glove compartment or glovebox is a compartment built into the dashboard, located over the front-seat passenger's footwell in an automobile, often used for miscellaneous storage. Items often placed in a glovebox include the vehicle's registration and insurance paperwork, manuals, CDs, sweets, books, napkins, items of clothing and accessories, and small childrens' toys.
The name derives from the original purpose of the compartment, to store gloves. (Often in a box on the floorboard near the driver, hence "glovebox".) In most vehicles, the glove compartment closes with a latch, with the option of being locked with a key (often desirable when using valet service, or when parking while the convertible top is down, or when the compartment contains a mechanism to open the trunk).
Gloves were originally worn to keep the hands clean. Driving gloves were considered necessary equipment in early cars, many without a hard top, to prevent the cooling effect of fast-moving air from numbing drivers' hands.
On some vehicles, the inside of the compartment's door may have an area for holding cups when open, and a section for holding a pen or pencil. On some newer cars, the glove compartment is temperature controlled, allowing for its use as a cooler. On others, such as the Toyota Yaris hatchback, multiple glove compartments are provided.
A glove compartment is occasionally referred to as a "jockey box," especially in the U.S. Upper Rocky Mountain states such as Idaho and Montana, but is found as far south as Texas. In South Africa, it is called a "cubby-hole". In Turkey, it is called "Torpedo Compartment".
According to the BBC Four programme "Penelope Keith and the Fast Lady", it was Dorothy Levitt who first coined the phrase 'glove compartment' as she advised motorists to carry a number of pairs of gloves to deal with many eventualities.
In the past, glove compartments typically had an internal light which automatically turned on when they were opened, facilitating the finding of materials therein, but during the 2000s, in a surprising reversal of the trend of optional equipment such as A/C, power windows, and automatic transmission becoming standard even in low-end models, many manufacturers started omitting the glove compartment light for cost-cutting reasons, even in luxury-level lines. To date, aftermarket parts manufacturers have not provided solutions for this omission, though one can store a flashlight in the glove compartment for lighting it up.