With the increasing global focus on environmental issues, controlling carbon dioxide emissions has become an important global agenda. In this context, the development of new energy vehicles, such as electric vehicles, is flourishing. However, as a crucial power source for electric vehicles, the safety performance of lithium-ion batteries under mechanical abuse has drawn widespread attention. Evaluating the safety performance of lithium-ion batteries requires in-depth research. This paper provides a review of recent experimental and numerical simulation studies on the mechanical abuse of lithium-ion batteries. It showcases the main methods and conclusions of experimental research, compares different response forms under quasi-static and dynamic loading, discusses the causes of strain-rate dependence in lithium-ion batteries, and briefly describes the impact of the state of charge (SOC) on safety performance under mechanical abuse, as well as the influence of mechanical abuse on battery capacity and impedance characteristics. Furthermore, this paper summarizes the methods of numerical simulation research, analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of detailed modeling and homogenized modeling methods, summarizes the strain-based internal short circuit failure criteria, and reviews numerical predictive models based on multiphysics coupling. Finally, it presents the latest progress in studying the safety performance of battery packs through numerical simulations.