Bilaminates consisting of a foam layer and TPO skin are widely used as instrument panel covers for energy absorption and aesthetics [1]. During airbag deployment, they undergo rapid fracture at high strain rates. Despite their importance, bilaminates are often excluded from vehicle restraint system simulations, reducing simulation accuracy [2]. Prior research focused mainly on skin materials at moderate strain rates [3] or omitted bilaminates altogether [4], leaving their dynamic two-stage failure poorly understood. This study aims to characterize and model a PP foam-TPO skin bilaminate under dynamic tensile loading, comparing numerical approaches in LS-DYNA. High strain rate tensile tests (14.5 𝑚/𝑠 , 4000 𝑠−1) using a Split Hopkinson bar characterised the bilaminate’s strain rate-dependent behaviour as described in [5]. Tests were performed on the foam and the skin individually, as well as on the combined bilaminate. Experimental data included stress-strain curves and high-speed videos capturing failure mechanisms. Numerical simulations applied two modelling strategies: individual layer modelling and a simplified homogeneous model. Both were validated against experimental stress-strain curves and video observations. The experiments revealed a characteristic two-stage failure, with the foam rupturing first, followed by the skin. Stress-strain curves showed strong strain rate dependence, with increased brittleness at higher strain rates, consistent with [3]. The simulations successfully replicated this behaviour. The two-layer model accurately captured the failure sequence. The simplified homogeneous model approximated overall stiffness and stress-strain curves but did not represent the two-stage failure mechanism. This study demonstrates that the bilaminate’s failure behaviour can be realistically modelled using appropriate material models and modelling approaches. While homogeneous models simplify simulations and capture overall behaviour, they are unsuited for detailed damage analysis. Future work will integrate the bilaminate model into airbag deployment simulations to assess system-level performance. These findings support virtualisation of restraint system development, addressing gaps in current simulation models.