A review of recentdevelopments in the impact dynamics of the multibody systems ispresented, including recent advances in modeling theory of theimpact dynamics, numerical algorithms and experiments. Themodeling theories are divided into three groups: theimpulse-momentum method, the continuous impact force model and thefinite method based on continuum mechanics, the advantages andlimitations of which are compared in respect of impact processdescription and numerical behavior. The latest developments ofimpact dynamics experiments in the field of non-contactmeasurement are reviewed, and relevant experimental studies aresummarized for validating the above mentioned methods. Then somenew discoveries in experiments are shown, and the new challengesin front of the impact dynamics of multibody systems are proposedbased on the demand from engineering practice.