Supplemental Guarantor Condensed Consolidating Financial Statements - Statement of Cash Flows (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 31, 2015
Operating Activities
Net cash provided (used) by operating activities	$ (29)	$ (50)
Investing Activities
Proceeds from sale of assets	1	1
Cash payments for plant, property, and equipment	(68)	(77)
Cash payments for software related intangible assets	(6)	(5)
Changes in restricted cash	(1)	3
Net cash used by investing activities	(74)	(78)
Financing Activities
Issuance of common shares	(2)	0
Tax benefit from stock-based compensation	0	3
Retirement of long-term debt	(4)	(4)
Issuance of long-term debt	5	0
Purchase of common stock under the share repurchase program	(16)	(11)
Net decrease in bank overdrafts	7	(8)
Net increase (decrease) in revolver borrowings and short-term debt excluding current maturities of long-term debt and short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivables	193	111
Net increase in short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivable		50
Intercompany dividend payments and net increase (decrease) in intercompany obligations	0	0
Net cash provided (used) by financing activities	183	141
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents	7	(7)
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	87	6
Cash and cash equivalents, January 1	287	282
Cash and cash equivalents, March 31 (Note)	374	288
Guarantor Subsidiaries
Operating Activities
Net cash provided (used) by operating activities	(212)	(74)
Investing Activities
Proceeds from sale of assets	0	0
Cash payments for plant, property, and equipment	(13)	(27)
Cash payments for software related intangible assets	(2)	(2)
Changes in restricted cash	0	0
Net cash used by investing activities	(15)	(29)
Financing Activities
Issuance of common shares	0
Tax benefit from stock-based compensation		0
Retirement of long-term debt	0	0
Issuance of long-term debt	0
Purchase of common stock under the share repurchase program	0	0
Net decrease in bank overdrafts	0	0
Net increase (decrease) in revolver borrowings and short-term debt excluding current maturities of long-term debt and short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivables	0	0
Net increase in short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivable		0
Intercompany dividend payments and net increase (decrease) in intercompany obligations	229	93
Net cash provided (used) by financing activities	229	93
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	2	(10)
Cash and cash equivalents, January 1	2	10
Cash and cash equivalents, March 31 (Note)	4	0
Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries
Operating Activities
Net cash provided (used) by operating activities	180	26
Investing Activities
Proceeds from sale of assets	1	1
Cash payments for plant, property, and equipment	(55)	(50)
Cash payments for software related intangible assets	(4)	(3)
Changes in restricted cash	(1)	3
Net cash used by investing activities	(59)	(49)
Financing Activities
Issuance of common shares	0
Tax benefit from stock-based compensation		0
Retirement of long-term debt	0	0
Issuance of long-term debt	5
Purchase of common stock under the share repurchase program	0	0
Net decrease in bank overdrafts	7	(8)
Net increase (decrease) in revolver borrowings and short-term debt excluding current maturities of long-term debt and short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivables	8	64
Net increase in short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivable		0
Intercompany dividend payments and net increase (decrease) in intercompany obligations	(63)	(10)
Net cash provided (used) by financing activities	(43)	46
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents	7	(7)
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	85	16
Cash and cash equivalents, January 1	285	272
Cash and cash equivalents, March 31 (Note)	370	288
Tenneco Inc
Operating Activities
Net cash provided (used) by operating activities	3	(2)
Investing Activities
Proceeds from sale of assets	0	0
Cash payments for plant, property, and equipment	0	0
Cash payments for software related intangible assets	0	0
Changes in restricted cash	0
Net cash used by investing activities	0	0
Financing Activities
Issuance of common shares	(2)
Tax benefit from stock-based compensation		3
Retirement of long-term debt	(4)	(4)
Issuance of long-term debt	0
Purchase of common stock under the share repurchase program	(16)	(11)
Net decrease in bank overdrafts	0	0
Net increase (decrease) in revolver borrowings and short-term debt excluding current maturities of long-term debt and short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivables	185	47
Net increase in short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivable		50
Intercompany dividend payments and net increase (decrease) in intercompany obligations	(166)	(83)
Net cash provided (used) by financing activities	(3)	2
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Cash and cash equivalents, January 1	0	0
Cash and cash equivalents, March 31 (Note)	0	0
Reclass and Elims
Operating Activities
Net cash provided (used) by operating activities	0	0
Investing Activities
Proceeds from sale of assets	0	0
Cash payments for plant, property, and equipment	0	0
Cash payments for software related intangible assets	0	0
Changes in restricted cash	0
Net cash used by investing activities	0	0
Financing Activities
Issuance of common shares	0
Tax benefit from stock-based compensation		0
Retirement of long-term debt	0	0
Issuance of long-term debt	0
Purchase of common stock under the share repurchase program	0	0
Net decrease in bank overdrafts	0	0
Net increase (decrease) in revolver borrowings and short-term debt excluding current maturities of long-term debt and short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivables	0	0
Net increase in short-term borrowings secured by accounts receivable		0
Intercompany dividend payments and net increase (decrease) in intercompany obligations	0	0
Net cash provided (used) by financing activities	0	0
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Cash and cash equivalents, January 1	0	0
Cash and cash equivalents, March 31 (Note)	$ 0	$ 0