Stock Incentive Plan - Additional Information (Detail) - LTI Program - USD ($) $ in Millions	May 09, 2016	Feb. 15, 2016
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Performance period	3 years	3 years
Minimum
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of target number of performance shares to be earned	0.00%	0.00%
Maximum
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of target number of performance shares to be earned	200.00%	200.00%
Weighted Average
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of target number of performance shares to be earned	50.00%	50.00%
Performance Shares
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of awards granted	50.00%	50.00%
Grant date fair value	$ 0.2	$ 6.9
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of awards granted	50.00%	50.00%
Grant date fair value	$ 0.2	$ 7.0

Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award Percentage Of Awards Granted

No definition available.

Name:	alv_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardPercentageOfAwardsGranted
Namespace Prefix:	alv_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Share Based Compensation Arrangement By Share Based Payment Award Percentage Of Target Number Of Shares Expected To Be Issued

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	alv_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardPercentageOfTargetNumberOfSharesExpectedToBeIssued
Namespace Prefix:	alv_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Period which an employee's right to exercise an award is no longer contingent on satisfaction of either a service condition, market condition or a performance condition, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 718
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardAwardVestingPeriod1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Gross value of stock (or other type of equity) issued during the period as a result of any equity-based compensation plan other than an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Stock issued could result from the issuance of restricted stock, the exercise of stock options, stock issued under employee stock purchase plans, and/or other employee benefit plans.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodValueShareBasedCompensationGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PlanNameAxis=alv_LongTermIncentivePlanMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MinimumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_WeightedAverageMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_PerformanceSharesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AwardTypeAxis=us-gaap_RestrictedStockUnitsRSUMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: