In a method for simulating a crankshaft signal of an internal combustion engine from a camshaft signal, in a normal operating mode of the engine, for at least one rotational speed range and/or for at least one operating state of the engine all tooth times of the teeth of a crankshaft position encoder wheel are trained, and, from these, for each tooth a correction factor is calculated for the corresponding rotational speed range and/or operating state, and in an emergency operating mode of the engine, the crankshaft position is determined from the camshaft signal, and subsequently the crankshaft signal is simulated by determining an average period duration of each tooth of the crankshaft position encoder wheel from the camshaft signal, and multiplying in each case by the correction factor for this tooth.