In this paper, a failure model for co-cured steel-composite tubular single lap joints has been proposed incorporating the nonlinear mechanical behavior of steel adherends and different failure mode s such as steel adherend failure and composite adherend failure. The characteristics of the co-cured steel-composite tubular single lap joint were investigated with respect to the test temperature, the stacking sequence of composite adherend, the thickness ratio of steel adherend to composite adherend, and the scarf ratio of steel adherend. Thus, the optimum design method for the co-cured steel-composite tubular single lap joint was suggested