diff --git a/rest/watch/decoder_test.go b/rest/watch/decoder_test.go
index c014f065..8623ce42 100644
--- a/rest/watch/decoder_test.go
+++ b/rest/watch/decoder_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package versioned_test
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -51,10 +52,13 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 		expect := &v1.Pod{ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "foo"}}
 		encoder := json.NewEncoder(in)
 		eType := eventType
+		errc := make(chan error)
+
 		go func() {
 			data, err := runtime.Encode(scheme.Codecs.LegacyCodec(v1.SchemeGroupVersion), expect)
 			if err != nil {
-				t.Fatalf("Unexpected error %v", err)
+				errc <- fmt.Errorf("Unexpected error %v", err)
+				return
 			}
 			event := metav1.WatchEvent{
 				Type:   string(eType),
@@ -70,7 +74,8 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 		go func() {
 			action, got, err := decoder.Decode()
 			if err != nil {
-				t.Fatalf("Unexpected error %v", err)
+				errc <- fmt.Errorf("Unexpected error %v", err)
+				return
 			}
 			if e, a := eType, action; e != a {
 				t.Errorf("Expected %v, got %v", e, a)
@@ -81,7 +86,11 @@ func TestDecoder(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Logf("Exited read")
 			close(done)
 		}()
-		<-done
+		select {
+		case err := <-errc:
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		case <-done:
+		}
 
 		done = make(chan struct{})
 		go func() {