Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Statement of Financial Position [Abstract]
Net sales	$ 337,897	$ 367,959	$ 382,096
Cost of goods sold	263,291	277,852	295,076
Gross profit	74,606	90,107	87,020
Selling and administrative expenses	78,200	78,752	77,611
Loss (gain) on disposals of property, plant and equipment-net	303	(1,318)	(320)
Restructuring	3,954	877	2,475
Operating (loss) income	(7,851)	11,796	7,254
Interest expense-net	(32,978)	(33,277)	(32,951)
Gain on extinguishment of debt	0	0	2,201
Equity income	316	1,024	952
Loss on divestiture	0	0	(8,730)
Other income-net	1,098	758	258
Loss from continuing operations before income taxes	(39,415)	(19,699)	(31,016)
Tax provision (benefit)	4,016	(5,046)	(15,614)
Net loss from continuing operations	(43,431)	(14,653)	(15,402)
Net (loss) income from discontinued operations, net of tax	(38,177)	1,493	10,929
Net loss	(81,608)	(13,160)	(4,473)
Less net gain (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0	5
Net loss attributable to Jason Industries	(81,608)	(13,160)	(4,478)
Accretion of preferred stock dividends and redemption premium	3,347	4,070	3,783
Net loss allocable to common shareholders of Jason Industries	$ (84,955)	$ (17,230)	$ (8,261)
Basic and diluted net (loss) income per share allocable to common shareholders of Jason Industries:
Net loss per share from continuing operations (in dollars per share)	$ (1.64)	$ (0.68)	$ (0.74)
Net (loss) income per share from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)	(1.34)	0.06	0.42
Basic and diluted net loss per share (in dollars per share)	$ (2.98)	$ (0.62)	$ (0.32)
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding:
Basic and diluted (in shares)	28,484	27,595	26,082