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Appearance, that's a personal preference. Are you going to fill in all the holes? Metal dash always looks nice, but so does a nice dash pad.
Safety? which is safer? Or does it really matter?
Do what you think looks best, it's up to you, it's your truck.
I like the metal dash look myself but it will depend on how my dash pad recover project goes. If I can recover mine with a select fabric and it looks good I will keep the pad. If not, I may go naked until I can afford a new one. In the meantime maybe I can be creative and maybe find something to cover up the slots temporary that won't look tacky.
In order to do it right would mean to take the winshield out and weld 'em shut. Can't go that far with my budget. If I could it wouldn't even be a discussion.
Roaming around a junk yard last Wed. I saw a lot of bumps without pads. The metal looked a lot better than a cracked pad. Go metal now, you can always install a pad later.