Derivatives Sales, Receivables and Postretirement Cost Sharing Asset by Major Customer (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Revenue, Major Customer [Line Items]
Total GM Postretirement Cost Sharing Asset	$ 256.3	$ 287.8
General Motors [Member]
Revenue, Major Customer [Line Items]
Entity-wide revenue, major customer, percentage	66.00%	68.00%	71.00%
Fair value, concentration of risk, accounts receivable	$ 361.1	$ 343.1
FCA [Member]
Revenue, Major Customer [Line Items]
Entity-wide revenue, major customer, percentage	20.00%	18.00%	12.00%
Fair value, concentration of risk, accounts receivable	$ 96.8	$ 99.3

Aggregate of the current and noncurrent amounts estimated to be received from General Motors Company (GM) associated with an agreement between us and GM to share proportionally in the cost of other postretirement employee benefits for eligible retirees based on the length of service an employee had with us and GM.

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	axl_TotalGmPostretirementCostSharingAsset
Namespace Prefix:	axl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

For an entity that discloses a concentration risk in relation to quantitative amount, which serves as the "benchmark" (or denominator) in the equation, this concept represents the concentration percentage derived from the division.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 18
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51801978&loc=d3e6351-108592

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 20
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49121117&loc=d3e13531-108611

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 20
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51801978&loc=d3e6404-108592

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 21
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=49121117&loc=d3e13537-108611

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
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_EntityWideRevenueMajorCustomerLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

This item represents disclosure of all significant concentrations of credit risk or market risk arising from the subject financial instrument (as defined), whether from an individual counterparty or groups of counterparties.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Regulation S-X (SX)
-Number 210
-Section 03
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph a, b
-Article 5

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueConcentrationOfRiskAccountsReceivable
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis=axl_GeneralMotorsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis=axl_FCAMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: