Effect of retained austenite on the fracture behavior of a novel press-hardened steel

•Effect of RA on both the tensile and bending properties of the PHS has been studied.•RA with various mechanical stabilities and volume fraction are obtained via tuning the degree of auto-tempering of martensite during die quenching.•The tensile performance is improved with increasing of volume fractions of RA in the novel PHS.•The mechanical stability, rather than volume fraction of RA, has significant impact on the bendability of the PHS.