Objective To develop an experimental animal model of lung impact injury under the closure of glottis. Methods 108 rabbits were impacted in the right chest with various driving pressures and compression percentage resulting in closed thoracic trauma. Results Different impact conditions caused different degrees of thoracic trauma. The severity of lung injury was positively related with the driving pressure and compression percentage. AIS values of the glottis closure group were significantly higher than those of the open group (P<0.05-0.01). Conclusion The established model is relatively simple, easily controllable and highly repeatable, which could be used as a feasible model for the study of thoracic trauma.