Commitments and Contingencies (Detail) - York, Pennsylvania Facility	9 Months Ended
Sep. 25, 2016
Site Contingency [Line Items]
Site contingency portion of total cost, percentage	47.00%
Navy
Site Contingency [Line Items]
Site contingency portion of total cost, percentage	53.00%

Site Contingency, Environmental Investigation And Remediation Activities, Contribution Amount, Percentage of Future Costs

No definition available.

Name:	hog_SiteContingencyEnvironmentalInvestigationAndRemediationActivitiesContributionAmountPercentageofFutureCosts
Namespace Prefix:	hog_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration