Cat Financial Financing Activities Cat Financing Activities (Details Credit quality- Customer Receivables Aging by origination year -Vintage disclosure) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Mar. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021	Mar. 31, 2021
Receivables [Abstract]
Period after which Unpaid Installments are Considered as Past Due	30 days
Dealer | Financing Receivables, Equal to or Greater than 30 Days Past Due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
Total Finance Receivables	$ 74
Dealer | Latin America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2018 and 2017, respectively		$ 78
Prior	73
Finance Receivables
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
Total Finance Receivables	22,011		$ 21,736
Finance Receivables | Customer
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	2,264	9,234
2021 and 2020, respectively	8,561	5,152
2020 and 2019, respectively	4,573	2,964
2019 and 2018, respectively	2,519	1,444
2018 and 2017, respectively	1,190	597
Prior	818	410
Revolving Finance Receivables	364	334
Total Finance Receivables	20,289	20,135	19,103
Finance Receivables | Customer | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	2,255	9,147
2021 and 2020, respectively	8,448	5,026
2020 and 2019, respectively	4,455	2,874
2019 and 2018, respectively	2,437	1,386
2018 and 2017, respectively	1,128	571
Prior	735	343
Revolving Finance Receivables	351	319
Total Finance Receivables	19,809	19,666
Finance Receivables | Customer | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	9	52
2021 and 2020, respectively	61	57
2020 and 2019, respectively	53	36
2019 and 2018, respectively	34	18
2018 and 2017, respectively	25	6
Prior	3	1
Revolving Finance Receivables	6	5
Total Finance Receivables	191	175
Finance Receivables | Customer | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	17
2021 and 2020, respectively	21	21
2020 and 2019, respectively	17	13
2019 and 2018, respectively	11	6
2018 and 2017, respectively	5	5
Prior	2	1
Revolving Finance Receivables	2	5
Total Finance Receivables	58	68
Finance Receivables | Customer | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	18
2021 and 2020, respectively	31	48
2020 and 2019, respectively	48	41
2019 and 2018, respectively	37	34
2018 and 2017, respectively	32	15
Prior	78	65
Revolving Finance Receivables	5	5
Total Finance Receivables	231	226
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	1,204	4,792
2021 and 2020, respectively	4,442	2,596
2020 and 2019, respectively	2,323	1,426
2019 and 2018, respectively	1,213	630
2018 and 2017, respectively	503	182
Prior	154	32
Revolving Finance Receivables	188	182
Total Finance Receivables	10,027	9,840
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	5	27
2021 and 2020, respectively	29	32
2020 and 2019, respectively	22	20
2019 and 2018, respectively	15	12
2018 and 2017, respectively	7	4
Prior	3	1
Revolving Finance Receivables	6	5
Total Finance Receivables	87	101
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	7
2021 and 2020, respectively	8	8
2020 and 2019, respectively	4	5
2019 and 2018, respectively	4	3
2018 and 2017, respectively	2	1
Prior	1	1
Revolving Finance Receivables	2	5
Total Finance Receivables	21	30
Finance Receivables | Customer | North America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	9
2021 and 2020, respectively	10	17
2020 and 2019, respectively	13	12
2019 and 2018, respectively	10	13
2018 and 2017, respectively	11	5
Prior	8	4
Revolving Finance Receivables	5	5
Total Finance Receivables	57	65
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	307	1,499
2021 and 2020, respectively	1,369	836
2020 and 2019, respectively	739	577
2019 and 2018, respectively	496	352
2018 and 2017, respectively	295	140
Prior	136	26
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	3,342	3,430
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	1	5
2021 and 2020, respectively	12	4
2020 and 2019, respectively	6	3
2019 and 2018, respectively	5	1
2018 and 2017, respectively	1	1
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	25	14
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	3
2021 and 2020, respectively	4	3
2020 and 2019, respectively	4	3
2019 and 2018, respectively	1	1
2018 and 2017, respectively	1	0
Prior	1	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	11	10
Finance Receivables | Customer | EAME | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	3
2021 and 2020, respectively	4	11
2020 and 2019, respectively	11	2
2019 and 2018, respectively	3	2
2018 and 2017, respectively	2	0
Prior	2	2
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	22	20
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	333	1,271
2021 and 2020, respectively	1,145	803
2020 and 2019, respectively	667	307
2019 and 2018, respectively	225	71
2018 and 2017, respectively	53	16
Prior	13	2
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	2,436	2,470
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	1	10
2021 and 2020, respectively	14	14
2020 and 2019, respectively	18	10
2019 and 2018, respectively	9	2
2018 and 2017, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	43	36
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	3
2021 and 2020, respectively	4	7
2020 and 2019, respectively	8	4
2019 and 2018, respectively	5	1
2018 and 2017, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	18	15
Finance Receivables | Customer | Asia/Pacific | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	2
2021 and 2020, respectively	7	10
2020 and 2019, respectively	9	10
2019 and 2018, respectively	7	3
2018 and 2017, respectively	2	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	25	25
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	195	851
2021 and 2020, respectively	780	347
2020 and 2019, respectively	312	307
2019 and 2018, respectively	274	193
2018 and 2017, respectively	167	36
Prior	167	161
Revolving Finance Receivables	48	36
Total Finance Receivables	1,943	1,931
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	6
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	0	6
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	1
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	4
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	0	5
Finance Receivables | Customer | Mining | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	0
2021 and 2020, respectively	1	1
2020 and 2019, respectively	1	8
2019 and 2018, respectively	8	9
2018 and 2017, respectively	12	3
Prior	8	1
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	30	22
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	204	617
2021 and 2020, respectively	607	299
2020 and 2019, respectively	270	160
2019 and 2018, respectively	137	70
2018 and 2017, respectively	45	17
Prior	29	18
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	1,292	1,181
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	4
2021 and 2020, respectively	6	7
2020 and 2019, respectively	7	3
2019 and 2018, respectively	5	3
2018 and 2017, respectively	16	1
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	34	18
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	3
2021 and 2020, respectively	5	3
2020 and 2019, respectively	1	1
2019 and 2018, respectively	1	1
2018 and 2017, respectively	1	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	8	8
Finance Receivables | Customer | Latin America | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	4
2021 and 2020, respectively	9	9
2020 and 2019, respectively	14	9
2019 and 2018, respectively	9	7
2018 and 2017, respectively	5	7
Prior	18	14
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	55	50
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | Current
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	12	117
2021 and 2020, respectively	105	145
2020 and 2019, respectively	144	97
2019 and 2018, respectively	92	70
2018 and 2017, respectively	65	180
Prior	236	104
Revolving Finance Receivables	115	101
Total Finance Receivables	769	814
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 31-60 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	2	0
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	2	0
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 61-90 days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	0
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
Prior	0	0
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	0	0
Finance Receivables | Customer | Caterpillar Power Finance | 91+ days past due
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
2022 and 2021, respectively	0	0
2021 and 2020, respectively	0	0
2020 and 2019, respectively	0	0
2019 and 2018, respectively	0	0
2018 and 2017, respectively	0	0
Prior	42	44
Revolving Finance Receivables	0	0
Total Finance Receivables	42	$ 44
Finance Receivables | Dealer
Financing Receivable, Credit Quality Indicator
Total Finance Receivables	$ 1,722		$ 2,633