The energy absorbed during crushing of composite structures is strongly dependent on the layup, fiber architecture and type of resin used. Modeling of the crash behavior of composites is therefore highly influenced by the composite material system chosen, and current constitutive models must be improved to include/account for the inherent properties from the manufacturing step. The ultimate goal of this contribution is to optimize the material system and manufacturing method for the required crushing performance in terms of energy absorption and cost. A first outcome of the study will be to provide information regarding the properties of the final manufactured composite material such as residual stresses and effects of defects. These properties are then used in the development of crash models. A robust link between manufacturing, experiments and crushing simulations is vital where there should be a generic routine towards the data transfer and constitutive models. The study of effects of defects will affect the input data into the material and constitutive models in form of change in strength and stiffness properties of the material. In this contribution, an experimental study on the material response under quasistatic crushing is performed where the manufacturing effects on the material properties are considered based on estimated data provided from vacuum infusion simulation. The crushing simulations are performed with ABAQUS where the material model developed in-house, which is a physically based damage model based on the LaRC05 failure criterion and progressive damage, is chosen to model the constitutive behavior. The parameters that are transferred to the system from manufacturing simulation are fiber content and voids. Consideration of these parameters into the constitutive behavior of the structure will directly influence the structural response. A parametric study is completed and results are discussed.