diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/fake_docker_client.go b/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/fake_docker_client.go
index 00d7be003bf..ac2d5a7bbe0 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/fake_docker_client.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/dockertools/fake_docker_client.go
@@ -297,6 +297,8 @@ func (f *FakeDockerClient) StopContainer(id string, timeout uint) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	f.Stopped = append(f.Stopped, id)
+	// Container status should be Updated before container moved to ExitedContainerList
+	f.updateContainerStatus(id, statusExitedPrefix)
 	var newList []docker.APIContainers
 	for _, container := range f.ContainerList {
 		if container.ID == id {
@@ -323,7 +325,6 @@ func (f *FakeDockerClient) StopContainer(id string, timeout uint) error {
 		container.State.Running = false
 	}
 	f.ContainerMap[id] = container
-	f.updateContainerStatus(id, statusExitedPrefix)
 	f.normalSleep(200, 50, 50)
 	return nil
 }
@@ -333,11 +334,20 @@ func (f *FakeDockerClient) RemoveContainer(opts docker.RemoveContainerOptions) e
 	defer f.Unlock()
 	f.called = append(f.called, "remove")
 	err := f.popError("remove")
-	if err == nil {
-		f.Removed = append(f.Removed, opts.ID)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
-	delete(f.ContainerMap, opts.ID)
-	return err
+	for i := range f.ExitedContainerList {
+		if f.ExitedContainerList[i].ID == opts.ID {
+			delete(f.ContainerMap, opts.ID)
+			f.ExitedContainerList = append(f.ExitedContainerList[:i], f.ExitedContainerList[i+1:]...)
+			f.Removed = append(f.Removed, opts.ID)
+			return nil
+		}
+
+	}
+	// To be a good fake, report error if container is not stopped.
+	return fmt.Errorf("container not stopped")
 }
 
 // Logs is a test-spy implementation of DockerInterface.Logs.
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
index 345e208d789..7dc241afa71 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
@@ -1950,31 +1950,6 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) cleanupOrphanedVolumes(pods []*api.Pod, runningPods []*kubeco
 	return nil
 }
 
-// Delete any pods that are no longer running and are marked for deletion.
-func (kl *Kubelet) cleanupTerminatedPods(pods []*api.Pod, runningPods []*kubecontainer.Pod) error {
-	var terminating []*api.Pod
-	for _, pod := range pods {
-		if pod.DeletionTimestamp != nil {
-			found := false
-			for _, runningPod := range runningPods {
-				if runningPod.ID == pod.UID {
-					found = true
-					break
-				}
-			}
-			if found {
-				glog.V(5).Infof("Keeping terminated pod %q, still running", format.Pod(pod))
-				continue
-			}
-			terminating = append(terminating, pod)
-		}
-	}
-	if !kl.statusManager.TerminatePods(terminating) {
-		return errors.New("not all pods were successfully terminated")
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
 // pastActiveDeadline returns true if the pod has been active for more than
 // ActiveDeadlineSeconds.
 func (kl *Kubelet) pastActiveDeadline(pod *api.Pod) bool {
@@ -2166,10 +2141,6 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) HandlePodCleanups() error {
 	// Remove any orphaned mirror pods.
 	kl.podManager.DeleteOrphanedMirrorPods()
 
-	if err := kl.cleanupTerminatedPods(allPods, runningPods); err != nil {
-		glog.Errorf("Failed to cleanup terminated pods: %v", err)
-	}
-
 	// Clear out any old bandwidth rules
 	if err = kl.cleanupBandwidthLimits(allPods); err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -2430,6 +2401,13 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) syncLoopIteration(updates <-chan kubetypes.PodUpdate, handler
 
 func (kl *Kubelet) dispatchWork(pod *api.Pod, syncType kubetypes.SyncPodType, mirrorPod *api.Pod, start time.Time) {
 	if kl.podIsTerminated(pod) {
+		if pod.DeletionTimestamp != nil {
+			// If the pod is in a termianted state, there is no pod worker to
+			// handle the work item. Check if the DeletionTimestamp has been
+			// set, and force a status update to trigger a pod deletion request
+			// to the apiserver.
+			kl.statusManager.TerminatePod(pod)
+		}
 		return
 	}
 	// Run the sync in an async worker.
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go b/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
index 2d89157d17d..1f091e49723 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/pleg/generic.go
@@ -124,17 +124,17 @@ func generateEvent(podID types.UID, cid string, oldState, newState plegContainer
 	case plegContainerExited:
 		return &PodLifecycleEvent{ID: podID, Type: ContainerDied, Data: cid}
 	case plegContainerUnknown:
-		// Don't generate any event if the status is unknown.
-		return nil
+		return &PodLifecycleEvent{ID: podID, Type: ContainerChanged, Data: cid}
 	case plegContainerNonExistent:
 		// We report "ContainerDied" when container was stopped OR removed. We
 		// may want to distinguish the two cases in the future.
 		switch oldState {
 		case plegContainerExited:
-			// We already reported that the container died before. There is no
-			// need to do it again.
-			return nil
+			// We already reported that the container died before.
+			return &PodLifecycleEvent{ID: podID, Type: ContainerRemoved, Data: cid}
 		default:
+			// TODO: We may want to generate a ContainerRemoved event as well.
+			// It's ok now because no one relies on the ContainerRemoved event.
 			return &PodLifecycleEvent{ID: podID, Type: ContainerDied, Data: cid}
 		}
 	default:
@@ -165,9 +165,7 @@ func (g *GenericPLEG) relist() {
 		return
 	}
 	pods := kubecontainer.Pods(podList)
-	for _, pod := range pods {
-		g.podRecords.setCurrent(pod)
-	}
+	g.podRecords.setCurrent(pods)
 
 	// Compare the old and the current pods, and generate events.
 	eventsByPodID := map[types.UID][]*PodLifecycleEvent{}
@@ -204,6 +202,10 @@ func (g *GenericPLEG) relist() {
 		// Update the internal storage and send out the events.
 		g.podRecords.update(pid)
 		for i := range events {
+			// Filter out events that are not reliable and no other components use yet.
+			if events[i].Type == ContainerChanged || events[i].Type == ContainerRemoved {
+				continue
+			}
 			g.eventChannel <- events[i]
 		}
 	}
@@ -304,12 +306,17 @@ func (pr podRecords) getCurrent(id types.UID) *kubecontainer.Pod {
 	return r.current
 }
 
-func (pr podRecords) setCurrent(pod *kubecontainer.Pod) {
-	if r, ok := pr[pod.ID]; ok {
-		r.current = pod
-		return
+func (pr podRecords) setCurrent(pods []*kubecontainer.Pod) {
+	for i := range pr {
+		pr[i].current = nil
+	}
+	for _, pod := range pods {
+		if r, ok := pr[pod.ID]; ok {
+			r.current = pod
+		} else {
+			pr[pod.ID] = &podRecord{current: pod}
+		}
 	}
-	pr[pod.ID] = &podRecord{current: pod}
 }
 
 func (pr podRecords) update(id types.UID) {
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/pleg/pleg.go b/pkg/kubelet/pleg/pleg.go
index 57a80f4481a..c23472ca925 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/pleg/pleg.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/pleg/pleg.go
@@ -23,13 +23,14 @@ import (
 type PodLifeCycleEventType string
 
 const (
-	ContainerStarted      PodLifeCycleEventType = "ContainerStarted"
-	ContainerDied         PodLifeCycleEventType = "ContainerDied"
-	NetworkSetupCompleted PodLifeCycleEventType = "NetworkSetupCompleted"
-	NetworkFailed         PodLifeCycleEventType = "NetworkFailed"
+	ContainerStarted PodLifeCycleEventType = "ContainerStarted"
+	ContainerDied    PodLifeCycleEventType = "ContainerDied"
 	// PodSync is used to trigger syncing of a pod when the observed change of
 	// the state of the pod cannot be captured by any single event above.
 	PodSync PodLifeCycleEventType = "PodSync"
+	// Do not use the events below because they are disabled in GenericPLEG.
+	ContainerRemoved PodLifeCycleEventType = "ContainerRemoved"
+	ContainerChanged PodLifeCycleEventType = "ContainerChanged"
 )
 
 // PodLifecycleEvent is an event that reflects the change of the pod state.
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/status/manager.go b/pkg/kubelet/status/manager.go
index 03396261431..20d2df64b5a 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/status/manager.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/status/manager.go
@@ -83,10 +83,9 @@ type Manager interface {
 	// triggers a status update.
 	SetContainerReadiness(podUID types.UID, containerID kubecontainer.ContainerID, ready bool)
 
-	// TerminatePods resets the container status for the provided pods to terminated and triggers
-	// a status update. This function may not enqueue all the provided pods, in which case it will
-	// return false
-	TerminatePods(pods []*api.Pod) bool
+	// TerminatePod resets the container status for the provided pod to terminated and triggers
+	// a status update.
+	TerminatePod(pod *api.Pod)
 
 	// RemoveOrphanedStatuses scans the status cache and removes any entries for pods not included in
 	// the provided podUIDs.
@@ -149,7 +148,7 @@ func (m *manager) SetPodStatus(pod *api.Pod, status api.PodStatus) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-	m.updateStatusInternal(pod, status)
+	m.updateStatusInternal(pod, status, false)
 }
 
 func (m *manager) SetContainerReadiness(podUID types.UID, containerID kubecontainer.ContainerID, ready bool) {
@@ -212,31 +211,32 @@ func (m *manager) SetContainerReadiness(podUID types.UID, containerID kubecontai
 		status.Conditions = append(status.Conditions, readyCondition)
 	}
 
-	m.updateStatusInternal(pod, status)
+	m.updateStatusInternal(pod, status, false)
 }
 
-func (m *manager) TerminatePods(pods []*api.Pod) bool {
-	allSent := true
+func (m *manager) TerminatePod(pod *api.Pod) {
 	m.podStatusesLock.Lock()
 	defer m.podStatusesLock.Unlock()
-	for _, pod := range pods {
-		for i := range pod.Status.ContainerStatuses {
-			pod.Status.ContainerStatuses[i].State = api.ContainerState{
-				Terminated: &api.ContainerStateTerminated{},
-			}
-		}
-		if sent := m.updateStatusInternal(pod, pod.Status); !sent {
-			glog.V(4).Infof("Termination notice for %q was dropped because the status channel is full", format.Pod(pod))
-			allSent = false
+	oldStatus := &pod.Status
+	if cachedStatus, ok := m.podStatuses[pod.UID]; ok {
+		oldStatus = &cachedStatus.status
+	}
+	status, err := copyStatus(oldStatus)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	for i := range status.ContainerStatuses {
+		status.ContainerStatuses[i].State = api.ContainerState{
+			Terminated: &api.ContainerStateTerminated{},
 		}
 	}
-	return allSent
+	m.updateStatusInternal(pod, pod.Status, true)
 }
 
 // updateStatusInternal updates the internal status cache, and queues an update to the api server if
 // necessary. Returns whether an update was triggered.
 // This method IS NOT THREAD SAFE and must be called from a locked function.
-func (m *manager) updateStatusInternal(pod *api.Pod, status api.PodStatus) bool {
+func (m *manager) updateStatusInternal(pod *api.Pod, status api.PodStatus, forceUpdate bool) bool {
 	var oldStatus api.PodStatus
 	cachedStatus, isCached := m.podStatuses[pod.UID]
 	if isCached {
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ func (m *manager) updateStatusInternal(pod *api.Pod, status api.PodStatus) bool
 	normalizeStatus(&status)
 	// The intent here is to prevent concurrent updates to a pod's status from
 	// clobbering each other so the phase of a pod progresses monotonically.
-	if isCached && isStatusEqual(&cachedStatus.status, &status) && pod.DeletionTimestamp == nil {
+	if isCached && isStatusEqual(&cachedStatus.status, &status) && !forceUpdate {
 		glog.V(3).Infof("Ignoring same status for pod %q, status: %+v", format.Pod(pod), status)
 		return false // No new status.
 	}
@@ -289,6 +289,8 @@ func (m *manager) updateStatusInternal(pod *api.Pod, status api.PodStatus) bool
 	default:
 		// Let the periodic syncBatch handle the update if the channel is full.
 		// We can't block, since we hold the mutex lock.
+		glog.V(4).Infof("Skpping the status update for pod %q for now because the channel is full; status: %+v",
+			format.Pod(pod), status)
 		return false
 	}
 }