Thin walled tubes are used as impact energy absorbing elements in transport vehicles. The circular tube is better energy absorber because it provides a reasonably constant operating force. Tubes of high strength steel and composites can be utilized to absorb the impact energy. In this work, circular tubes of annealed, dual phase (DP) steel and glass/epoxy composites are subjected to quasi static and impact loading. The specific energy absorption, energy absorption rate and energy absorption effective ness factor, which are the important factors in assessing the crash worthiness of structure are studied for the above tubular members. The specific energy absorption of composite tube is observed to be higher than the steel tubes. In annealed and DP tubes, it increases with the increase in impact velocity. The composite tube has controlled energy absorption than the other tubes. The study of energy absorbing effectiveness factor shows that composite tubes are more efficient in energy absorption.