The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced today that the 2010 Hyundai Genesis sedans received Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) certification as the “TOP SAFETY PICK”.

"The award recognizes the vehicles that earn the top rating of good for front, side, rollover, and rear crash protection, and that have electronic stability control, which is standard on both of these cars," IIHS said in a statement.

The 2010 Top Safety Pick for the Hyundai Genesis applies for models built after January 2010. The Genesis, which was introduced as a 2009 model year vehicle, received some changes to the roof structure to improve protection in rollover crashes, as the standards were raised even higher this year.

Derek Joyce, manager of product planning, Hyundai Motor America, said that "Genesis was designed to be one of the safest vehicles on the road." The car features many active and passive safety equipments as standard, such as Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), eight airbags and electronic active head restraints, which helps prevent whiplash.

The 2010 Genesis can be purchased with a choice of two engines: a 290 hp 3.8L V6 or a 4.6L V8 developing 378 hp. The base price starts around $33,000 MSRP for the V6 powered version.