The near net forming process of automobile steering ball pin was studied by combining the finite element method and the actual physical test. Firstly, according to the characteristics of the steering ball pin and the principle of plastic forming, the forming mode of each characteristic was determined, and two sets of five-station upsetting extrusion forming process schemes were designed based on the allowable deformation amount of the material. Secondly, the flow stress model of 40Cr steel at room temperature was created by compression test and imported into Deform-3D. At the same time, the numerical modeling and forming simulation were carried out for the two schemes respectively, and the filling effect, material deformation process, equivalent stress distribution and forming load change condition were compared to obtain a more suitable scheme. Finally, the upsetting extrusion test of steering ball pin was carried out according to the simulation analysis results. The results show that the analysis results are accurate, the forming process is reliable, and the obtained steering ball pin has full filling, good appearance, no obvious defects, uniform internal organization, no folding and other problems, which meet the technical requirements.