Number of grants expected that achieves the performance conditions.

No definition available.

Name:	alv_NumberOfGrantsExpectedThatAchievesThePerformanceConditions
Namespace Prefix:	alv_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

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

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

Percentage of vesting of share-based compensation awards.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SharebasedCompensationArrangementBySharebasedPaymentAwardAwardVestingRightsPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
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

- Definition

Value of stock issued as a result of the exercise of stock options.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21463-112644

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.29-31)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187085-122770

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_StockIssuedDuringPeriodValueStockOptionsExercised
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_TitleOfIndividualAxis=alv_NonEmployeeDirectorsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VestingAxis=us-gaap_ShareBasedCompensationAwardTrancheOneMember
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:

Stock Incentive Plan - Additional Information (Detail) $ in Millions					3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	May 09, 2017 USD ($)	Feb. 19, 2017 USD ($)	May 09, 2016	Feb. 15, 2016	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($) Grant	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	May 31, 2017	Feb. 29, 2016
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Grant date fair value fully vested					$ 5.4	$ 2.7	$ 13.6	$ 11.6
LTI Program
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Performance period			3 years	3 years
Number of grants expected that achieves the performance conditions \| Grant							2
LTI Program \| Non-employee Directors
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Grant date fair value fully vested	$ 1.2
LTI Program \| Annual Base Retainer \| Non-employee Directors
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of grants fully-vested shares of common stock							50.00%
LTI Program \| 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%
LTI Program \| 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%
LTI Program \| 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%
LTI Program \| Performance Shares
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of awards granted										50.00%
Grant date fair value		$ 7.9
LTI Program \| Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of awards granted										50.00%
Grant date fair value		$ 7.9
LTI Program \| Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) \| Non-employee Directors
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Percentage of awards granted									50.00%
Grant date fair value	$ 1.0