Guarantees and product warranty - Guarantees (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Dec. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	$ 353	$ 511
Caterpillar dealer performance guarantees
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	42	188
Other guarantees
Guarantor Obligations
Guarantees, maximum potential amount of future payments	$ 311	$ 323

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.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-Publisher FASB
-URI https://asc.fasb.org//1943274/2147482425/460-10-50-4

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)(1)
-Publisher FASB
-URI https://asc.fasb.org//1943274/2147482425/460-10-50-4

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (c)
-Publisher FASB
-URI https://asc.fasb.org//1943274/2147482425/460-10-50-4

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Topic 460
-SubTopic 10
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (f)
-Publisher FASB
-URI https://asc.fasb.org//1943274/2147482425/460-10-50-4

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