diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/update.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/update.go
index d0d63038b07..24fea3a538f 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/update.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/update.go
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func NewCmdUpdate(f *cmdutil.Factory, out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 		Example: update_example,
 		Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 			err := RunUpdate(f, out, cmd, args, filenames)
-			cmdutil.CheckErr(err)
+			cmdutil.CheckCustomErr("Update failed", err)
 		},
 	}
 	usage := "Filename, directory, or URL to file to use to update the resource."
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/helpers.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/helpers.go
index a38e04de758..2d3b59a27e0 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/helpers.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/helpers.go
@@ -83,6 +83,58 @@ func checkErr(err error, handleErr func(string)) {
 	handleErr(msg)
 }
 
+// CheckCustomErr is like CheckErr except a custom prefix error
+// string may be provied to help produce more specific error messages.
+// For example, for the update failed case this function could be called
+// with:
+//    cmdutil.CheckCustomErr("Update failed", err)
+// This function supresses the detailed output that is produced by CheckErr
+// and specifically the field is erased and the error message has the details
+// of the spec removed. Unfortunately, what starts off as a detail message is
+// a sperate field ends up being concatentated into one string which contains
+// the spec and the detail string. To avoid significant refactoring of the error
+// data structures we just extract the required detail string by looking for it
+// after "}': " which is horrible but expedient.
+func CheckCustomErr(customPrefix string, err error) {
+	checkCustomErr(customPrefix, err, fatal)
+}
+
+func checkCustomErr(customPrefix string, err error, handleErr func(string)) {
+	if err == nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	if errors.IsInvalid(err) {
+		details := err.(*errors.StatusError).Status().Details
+		for i := range details.Causes {
+			c := &details.Causes[i]
+			s := strings.Split(c.Message, "}': ")
+			if len(s) == 2 {
+				c.Message =
+					s[1]
+				c.Field = ""
+			}
+		}
+		prefix := fmt.Sprintf("%s", customPrefix)
+		errs := statusCausesToAggrError(details.Causes)
+		handleErr(MultilineError(prefix, errs))
+	}
+
+	// handle multiline errors
+	if clientcmd.IsConfigurationInvalid(err) {
+		handleErr(MultilineError("Error in configuration: ", err))
+	}
+	if agg, ok := err.(utilerrors.Aggregate); ok && len(agg.Errors()) > 0 {
+		handleErr(MultipleErrors("", agg.Errors()))
+	}
+
+	msg, ok := StandardErrorMessage(err)
+	if !ok {
+		msg = fmt.Sprintf("error: %s\n", err.Error())
+	}
+	handleErr(msg)
+}
+
 func statusCausesToAggrError(scs []api.StatusCause) utilerrors.Aggregate {
 	errs := make([]error, len(scs))
 	for i, sc := range scs {