Vehicle crash is a very complex process, which can be modelled in details using the finite element method (FEM), but a simple, quasi-heuristic model with a limited number of parameters is often more beneficial. In this paper we propose a relatively simple dynamic model for deformation and force during a frontal collision process, which has very similar behavior to the experimental data. A genetic-type optimization of model parameters is executed on three car crash experimental data sets. ©2012 IEEE.