Does anyone know why an instrument panel would work off and on?

DIM (Driver information module) failures are quite common in this model. There are companies online you can send them out for repair. When the DIM goes offline the Airbag module gets fussy and and when the DIM comes back online, there will be a SRS light on and an Airbag service urgent message on your screen. After the DIM is repaired, the codes will need to be cleared from the SRS module and DIM.