A method for determining a type of an impact of an object on a vehicle includes: reading in an acceleration value; determining a transverse acceleration value that represents a difference between the lateral acceleration value and an acceleration value based on the rotational acceleration value, for an acceleration transverse to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and/or determining a longitudinal acceleration value that represents a difference between the longitudinal acceleration value and an acceleration value based on the rotational acceleration value, in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle; and recognition of the type of the impact if the transverse acceleration value and/or the longitudinal acceleration value stands in a predetermined relation to a respective threshold value.