The 2013 Dodge Dart has earned a key honor that should boost Chrysler's sales efforts.
 The new compact car,  with its 10 standard air bags and one of the auto industry's highest content-ratios of high-strength steel, has been named a 2012 Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The first product born of Chrysler Group LLC's alliance with Italian partner Fiat. recorded the maximum possible rating in each of the four crash tests used by the IIHS to evaluate occupant protection, the primary attribute of a Top Safety Pick. The 2013 Dart achieved a score of "good" in tests that simulate rollover, rear-, side- and moderate-overlap frontal-impacts. The IIHS rating scale comprises grades of good, acceptable, marginal and poor.
"We had high expectations for the Dart and our engineers delivered," says Reid Bigland, Dodge-brand President and CEO and Head of U.S. Sales. "Since its launch, the 2013 Dodge Dart has consistently outperformed in the area of fuel efficiency, technology, value for the money and now safety. It is truly a groundbreaking new car."
Top Safety Pick is the highest safety honor bestowed by the IIHS. "Winners afford buyers the best overall protection in four of the most common kinds of crashes, and help them avoid crashes altogether with electronic stability control," noted. IIHS President Adrian Lund. By Joseph Szczesny