The impact events of a pouch cell have been simulated using three types of finite element models. It is shown that all these models can capture the essential features of a cell under impact and give similar results in the evolution of loading force, voltage and temperature. Their computational times, on the other hand, differ by orders of magnitude due to different levels of details contained in the models. It demonstrates that with appropriate strategies, multi-physics battery safety simulations can be extended from cell to module/pack with reasonable accuracy using manageable computational resources. (C) 2019 The Electrochemical Society.