The present research works investigated into the low velocity impact characteristics of DP 780 high strength steel sheet with 1.7 mm in thickness subjected to free boundary condition using three-dimensional finite element analysis. Finite element analysis was carried out via ABAQUS explicit code. Hyper-elastic model and the damping factor were introduced to improve an accuracy of the FE analysis. An appropriate FE model was obtained via the comparison of the results of the FE analyses and those of the impact tests. The influence of the impact energy and nose diameter of the impact head on the force-deflection curves, impact time, absorption characteristics of the impact energy, deformation behaviours, and stress-strain distributions was quantitatively examined using the results of FE analysis. The results of the FE analysis showed that the absorption rate of impact energy lies in the range of the 70.7-77.5 %. In addition, it was noted that the absorption rate of impact energy decreases when the impact energy increases and the nose diameter of the impact head decreases. The local deformation of the impacted region was rapidly increased when the impact energy was larger than 76.2 J and the nose diameter was 20 mm. A critical impact energy, which occur the instability of the DP780, was estimated using the relationship between the plastic strain and the impact energy. Finally, characteristics of the plastic energy dissipation and the strain energy density were discussed.