Discontinued Operations - Summary of Significant Non-Cash Items of Discontinued Operations (Detail) - Spin-off - Veoneer, Inc. $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($)
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Depreciation	$ 44.8
Amortization of intangible assets	10.5
Capital expenditures	71.1
Acquisition in affiliate, net	71.0
Undistributed loss from equity method investment	29.9
M/A-COM
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Earn-out adjustment	$ (14.0)

Amount of acquisition of businesses and interest in affiliates, net attributable to discontinued operations.

No definition available.

Name:	alv_AcquisitionOfBusinessesAndInterestInAffiliatesNetDiscontinuedOperations
Namespace Prefix:	alv_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of amortization of intangible assets attributable to discontinued operations.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	alv_AmortizationOfIntangibleAssetsDiscontinuedOperations
Namespace Prefix:	alv_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of depreciation attributable to discontinued operations.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	alv_DepreciationDiscontinuedOperations
Namespace Prefix:	alv_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of earn out adjustment attributable to discontinued operations.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	alv_EarnOutAdjustmentDiscontinuedOperations
Namespace Prefix:	alv_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of undistributed earnings from equity method investments, net of dividends attributable to discontinued operations.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	alv_UndistributedEarningsFromEquityMethodInvestmentsNetOfDividendsDiscontinuedOperations
Namespace Prefix:	alv_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of capital expenditure attributable to discontinued operations.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 205
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5B
-Subparagraph (c)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109222650&loc=SL51721673-107760

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_CapitalExpenditureDiscontinuedOperations
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
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_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisposalGroupClassificationAxis=us-gaap_DiscontinuedOperationsDisposedOfByMeansOtherThanSaleSpinoffMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsAxis=alv_VeoneerIncorporationMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=alv_MACOMTechnologySolutionsHoldingsIncMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: