diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
index a82e6c6d39a..ad67a9efbb1 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
@@ -1430,6 +1430,28 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) cleanupOrphanedVolumes(pods []*api.Pod, running []*docker.Con
 	return nil
 }
 
+// Filter out pods in the terminated state ("Failed" or "Succeeded").
+func (kl *Kubelet) filterOutTerminatedPods(allPods []*api.Pod) []*api.Pod {
+	var pods []*api.Pod
+	for _, pod := range allPods {
+		var status api.PodStatus
+		// Check the cached pod status which was set after the last sync.
+		status, ok := kl.statusManager.GetPodStatus(kubecontainer.GetPodFullName(pod))
+		if !ok {
+			// If there is no cached status, use the status from the
+			// apiserver. This is useful if kubelet has recently been
+			// restarted.
+			status = pod.Status
+		}
+		if status.Phase == api.PodFailed || status.Phase == api.PodSucceeded {
+			// Pod has reached the final state; ignore it.
+			continue
+		}
+		pods = append(pods, pod)
+	}
+	return pods
+}
+
 // SyncPods synchronizes the configured list of pods (desired state) with the host current state.
 func (kl *Kubelet) SyncPods(allPods []*api.Pod, podSyncTypes map[types.UID]metrics.SyncPodType,
 	mirrorPods map[string]*api.Pod, start time.Time) error {
@@ -1444,16 +1466,20 @@ func (kl *Kubelet) SyncPods(allPods []*api.Pod, podSyncTypes map[types.UID]metri
 	}
 	kl.statusManager.RemoveOrphanedStatuses(podFullNames)
 
-	// Filter out the rejected pod. They don't have running containers.
+	// Reject pods that we cannot run.
 	kl.handleNotFittingPods(allPods)
-	var pods []*api.Pod
-	for _, pod := range allPods {
-		status, ok := kl.statusManager.GetPodStatus(kubecontainer.GetPodFullName(pod))
-		if ok && status.Phase == api.PodFailed {
-			continue
-		}
-		pods = append(pods, pod)
-	}
+
+	// Pod phase progresses monotonically. Once a pod has reached a final state,
+	// it should never leave irregardless of the restart policy. The statuses
+	// of such pods should not be changed, and there is no need to sync them.
+	// TODO: the logic here does not handle two cases:
+	//   1. If the containers were removed immediately after they died, kubelet
+	//      may fail to generate correct statuses, let alone filtering correctly.
+	//   2. If kubelet restarted before writing the terminated status for a pod
+	//      to the apiserver, it could still restart the terminated pod (even
+	//      though the pod was not considered terminated by the apiserver).
+	// These two conditions could be alleviated by checkpointing kubelet.
+	pods := kl.filterOutTerminatedPods(allPods)
 
 	glog.V(4).Infof("Desired: %#v", pods)
 	var err error
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
index bb8c934e7f1..45e4358487b 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
@@ -168,6 +168,18 @@ func verifyBoolean(t *testing.T, expected, value bool) {
 	}
 }
 
+func newTestPods(count int) []*api.Pod {
+	pods := make([]*api.Pod, count)
+	for i := 0; i < count; i++ {
+		pods[i] = &api.Pod{
+			ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
+				Name: fmt.Sprintf("pod%d", i),
+			},
+		}
+	}
+	return pods
+}
+
 func TestKubeletDirs(t *testing.T) {
 	testKubelet := newTestKubelet(t)
 	kubelet := testKubelet.kubelet
@@ -4246,3 +4258,20 @@ func TestGetRestartCount(t *testing.T) {
 	fakeDocker.ExitedContainerList = []docker.APIContainers{}
 	verifyRestartCount(&pod, 2)
 }
+
+func TestFilterOutTerminatedPods(t *testing.T) {
+	testKubelet := newTestKubelet(t)
+	kubelet := testKubelet.kubelet
+	pods := newTestPods(5)
+	pods[0].Status.Phase = api.PodFailed
+	pods[1].Status.Phase = api.PodSucceeded
+	pods[2].Status.Phase = api.PodRunning
+	pods[3].Status.Phase = api.PodPending
+
+	expected := []*api.Pod{pods[2], pods[3], pods[4]}
+	kubelet.podManager.SetPods(pods)
+	actual := kubelet.filterOutTerminatedPods(pods)
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(expected, actual) {
+		t.Errorf("expected %#v, got %#v", expected, actual)
+	}
+}