Long-Term Debt, Short-Term Debt, and Financing Arrangements - Summary of Long-Term Debt Obligations Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Fair Value of Plan Assets	$ 561
Revolver Borrowings Due 2019 [Member] \| Tenneco Inc. (Parent Company) \| Line of Credit [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Average effective interest rate	2.30%	2.00%
Notes Due 2016 Through 2026 [Member] \| Other subsidiaries \| Notes Payable, Other Payables [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Average effective interest rate	0.20%	0.10%
Other Long Term Debt Due 2019 [Member] \| Other subsidiaries \| Other Long Term Debt [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Average effective interest rate	1.70%	6.55%
Senior Notes Due 2020, 6.875% [Member] \| Tenneco Inc. (Parent Company) \| Senior Notes [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Stated interest rate		6.875%
Senior Notes Due 2024, 5.375% [Member] \| Tenneco Inc. (Parent Company) \| Senior Notes [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Stated interest rate	5.375%	5.375%
5% Senior Notes Due 2026 \| Tenneco Inc. (Parent Company) \| Senior Notes [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Stated interest rate	5.00%
Senior Tranche A Term Loan Due 2017 Through 2019 [Member] \| Tenneco Inc. (Parent Company) \| Term Loan [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Average effective interest rate	2.20%	1.90%
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 \| Foreign
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Fair Value of Plan Assets	$ 27	$ 44
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 \| Foreign \| Cash held in bank accounts
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Defined Benefit Plan, Fair Value of Plan Assets	$ 7	$ 11

Effective interest rate for the funds borrowed under the debt agreement considering interest compounding and original issue discount or premium.

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 210.5-02.22(a)(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 835
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64930785&loc=d3e28551-108399

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- Definition

Contractual interest rate for funds borrowed, under the debt agreement.

+ References

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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.

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- Definition

Fair value of assets that have been segregated and restricted to provide pension or postretirement benefits. Assets include, but are not limited to, stocks, bonds, other investments, earnings from investments, and contributions by the employer and employees.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 30
-Section 35
-Paragraph 50
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64937038&loc=d3e12355-114930

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65897934&loc=d3e1928-114920

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Plan Assets
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6749337

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Plan Assets
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6520858

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