Troubleshooting a 2003 Ford Taurus Instrument Panel Lights Outage?

Over the course of a year a section at a time of my instrument cluster lights have gone out. All other: warning lights, interior lights and gauges all work fine. Sometimes if I hit the dashboard with my hand the lights will come back on. Any ideas on what I should be looking at?

I'll suggest taking your Taurus to a shop that specializes in car electrical issues.
Diagnosing problems like this yourself, can lead to days of fruitless effort. The experts more than likely have seen this issue in Taurus's before, and can have you back on the road in short order.