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Hybrid material system, comprised of metal and carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), combines the excellent mechanical performance and lightweight feature of CFRP with the competitive material cost and superior toughness of metal. By virtue of such mingled feature, metal/CFRP hybrid structure exhibits great potential in automotive components. This study aims to investigate the crushing behavior of aluminum/WF‐CFRP (woven fabric CFRP) hybrid columns subjected to dynamic loading condition by comparing with the corresponding individual columns made of single material (aluminum column and WF‐CFRP column). The dynamic axial crushing tests indicate that specific energy absorption of WF‐CFRP column is 45% higher than that of the aluminum column and 27% superior to that of the hybrid column, while the total energy absorption of the hybrid column is about 8% higher than the summation of WF‐CFRP column and aluminum column. Afterward, several finite element models are developed to reveal the underlying energy‐absorbing mechanisms and the influences of each factor for the hybrid columns. The numerical results show that specific energy absorption of the hybrid columns is negatively correlated with the metal volume fraction (F m), when inner aluminum wall thickness (t m) equals to 1.0 mm. It is also found that crushing process of the hybrid columns with l = 2 (2 CFRP layers) is dominated by the progressive folding of inner aluminum column, leading to a lower damage level of CFRP and lower load carrying capacity. With increasing wrapped CFRP layer number up to 8, the inner aluminum column starts to generate internal inversion deformation mode due to the restriction of the outer CFRP layers, and outer CFRP layers exhibit progressive failure. The energy‐absorbing mechanisms analysis indicates that the internal energy of the internally inversed aluminum column is significantly higher than that of the progressively folded aluminum column, and thus such special deformation mode is capable to offer a more stable and higher load carrying capacity for the hybrid columns. Besides, it is also found that the plastic deformation of the inner aluminum column is the major energy‐absorbing mechanism, which is followed by the crushing failure of outer CFRP layers. The combination mode of thinner aluminum column and thicker CFRP layers tends to offer higher energy‐absorbing capacity, which is much higher than that of the summation of corresponding individual columns. Finally, a complex proportional assessment method is considered to select the optimal configuration achieving the balance of material cost and structural crashworthiness. The present study is expected to provide guideline for design of metal/CFRP hybrid columns.

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