diff --git a/pkg/api/v1beta1/defaults.go b/pkg/api/v1beta1/defaults.go
index 743ebbf2b40..19cb2e0228a 100644
--- a/pkg/api/v1beta1/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/api/v1beta1/defaults.go
@@ -75,5 +75,10 @@ func init() {
 				obj.DNSPolicy = DNSClusterFirst
 			}
 		},
+		func(obj *LivenessProbe) {
+			if obj.TimeoutSeconds == 0 {
+				obj.TimeoutSeconds = 1
+			}
+		},
 	)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/api/v1beta2/defaults.go b/pkg/api/v1beta2/defaults.go
index 0897186b855..4f385884e08 100644
--- a/pkg/api/v1beta2/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/api/v1beta2/defaults.go
@@ -75,5 +75,10 @@ func init() {
 				obj.DNSPolicy = DNSClusterFirst
 			}
 		},
+		func(obj *LivenessProbe) {
+			if obj.TimeoutSeconds == 0 {
+				obj.TimeoutSeconds = 1
+			}
+		},
 	)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/api/v1beta3/defaults.go b/pkg/api/v1beta3/defaults.go
index 2c908e6c1ee..f312b0ca2c2 100644
--- a/pkg/api/v1beta3/defaults.go
+++ b/pkg/api/v1beta3/defaults.go
@@ -70,5 +70,10 @@ func init() {
 				obj.DNSPolicy = DNSClusterFirst
 			}
 		},
+		func(obj *Probe) {
+			if obj.TimeoutSeconds == 0 {
+				obj.TimeoutSeconds = 1
+			}
+		},
 	)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/probe.go b/pkg/kubelet/probe.go
index b2955e257ef..382b6f4da45 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/probe.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/probe.go
@@ -36,10 +36,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 )
 
-const (
-	defaultProbeTimeout = 1 * time.Second
-	maxProbeRetries     = 3
-)
+const maxProbeRetries = 3
 
 // probeContainer executes the given probe on a container and returns the result.
 // If the probe is nil this returns Success. If the probe's initial delay has not passed
@@ -71,11 +68,7 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) probeContainer(p *api.Probe,
 }
 
 func (kl *Kubelet) runProbe(p *api.Probe, podFullName string, podUID types.UID, status api.PodStatus, container api.Container) (probe.Result, error) {
-	timeout := defaultProbeTimeout
-	secs := p.TimeoutSeconds
-	if secs > 0 {
-		timeout = time.Duration(secs) * time.Second
-	}
+	timeout := time.Duration(p.TimeoutSeconds) * time.Second
 	if p.Exec != nil {
 		return kl.prober.exec.Probe(kl.newExecInContainer(podFullName, podUID, container))
 	}