Business Segment and Geographic Region Information Business Segment and Geographic Region Information (Details 1) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Goodwill	$ 5,537	$ 5,454	$ 5,435
Other intangible assets	2,192	2,272	2,441
Total assets	17,873	17,252	16,282
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	568	394	195
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	367	369	398
Electrical Americas [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Goodwill	2,043	2,061
Total assets	1,364	1,272	1,050
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	65	59	30
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	53	55	56
Electrical Rest of World [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Goodwill	981	985
Total assets	1,531	1,630	1,625
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	52	49	39
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	58	56	61
Hydraulics [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Goodwill	1,116	1,007
Total assets	1,265	1,080	939
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	70	45	21
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	54	52	57
Aerospace [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Goodwill	1,040	1,037
Total assets	754	726	729
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	21	21	16
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	26	25	26
Truck [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Goodwill	150	151
Total assets	920	866	797
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	80	59	30
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	74	76	83
Automotive [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Goodwill	207	213
Total assets	863	904	866
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	92	61	24
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	73	77	85
All Segments [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	6,697	6,478	6,006
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	380	294	160
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	338	341	368
Corporate [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	3,447	3,048	2,400
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	188	100	35
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment	$ 29	$ 28	$ 30