The work aims to explore the effects of light water loss on mechanical injury and quality of Actinidia arguta. The changes in sensory quality, nutritional quality, membrane lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen metabolism of Actinidia arguta during storage were determined by comparing the effect of water loss on mechanical injury of fruit under simulated transportation vibration with the fruit under simulated transportation vibration without water loss as a control. Compared with the control group, the 4% light water loss treatment was beneficial in maintaining fruit sensory quality, reducing decay rate by 10% and increasing the total phenolic content by 18.2%. Water loss also inhibited the increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and relative conductivity and maintained the activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) during storage. The 4% light water loss may have reduced the rate of decay by decreasing fruit hardness, maintaining a high scavenging capacity of reactive oxygen species and inhibiting the ripening process, thus facilitating the alleviation of mechanical injury occurrence in postharvest transportation of Actinidia arguta and maintaining fruit quality.