diff --git a/neutronclient/client.py b/neutronclient/client.py
index 1afa37096..fefa07b63 100644
--- a/neutronclient/client.py
+++ b/neutronclient/client.py
@@ -113,7 +113,6 @@ class HTTPClient(httplib2.Http):
         self.endpoint_url = endpoint_url
         self.auth_strategy = auth_strategy
         # httplib2 overrides
-        self.force_exception_to_status_code = True
         self.disable_ssl_certificate_validation = insecure
 
     def _cs_request(self, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -133,7 +132,13 @@ class HTTPClient(httplib2.Http):
         args = utils.safe_encode_list(args)
         kargs = utils.safe_encode_dict(kargs)
         utils.http_log_req(_logger, args, kargs)
-        resp, body = self.request(*args, **kargs)
+        try:
+            resp, body = self.request(*args, **kargs)
+        except Exception as e:
+            # Wrap the low-level connection error (socket timeout, redirect
+            # limit, decompression error, etc) into our custom high-level
+            # connection exception (it is excepted in the upper layers of code)
+            raise exceptions.ConnectionFailed(reason=e)
         utils.http_log_resp(_logger, resp, body)
         status_code = self.get_status_code(resp)
         if status_code == 401:
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_http.py b/tests/unit/test_http.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..09182324f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_http.py
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2013 OpenStack Foundation.
+# All Rights Reserved.
+#
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+# vim: tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
+
+import httplib2
+import mox
+import testtools
+
+from neutronclient.client import HTTPClient
+from neutronclient.common import exceptions
+from tests.unit.test_cli20 import MyResp
+
+
+AUTH_TOKEN = 'test_token'
+END_URL = 'test_url'
+METHOD = 'GET'
+URL = 'http://test.test:1234/v2.0/test'
+
+
+class TestHTTPClient(testtools.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(TestHTTPClient, self).setUp()
+
+        self.mox = mox.Mox()
+        self.mox.StubOutWithMock(httplib2.Http, 'request')
+        self.addCleanup(self.mox.UnsetStubs)
+
+        self.http = HTTPClient(token=AUTH_TOKEN, endpoint_url=END_URL)
+
+    def test_request_error(self):
+        httplib2.Http.request(
+            URL, METHOD, headers=mox.IgnoreArg()
+        ).AndRaise(Exception('error msg'))
+        self.mox.ReplayAll()
+
+        self.assertRaises(
+            exceptions.ConnectionFailed,
+            self.http._cs_request,
+            URL, METHOD
+        )
+        self.mox.VerifyAll()
+
+    def test_request_success(self):
+        rv_should_be = MyResp(200), 'test content'
+
+        httplib2.Http.request(
+            URL, METHOD, headers=mox.IgnoreArg()
+        ).AndReturn(rv_should_be)
+        self.mox.ReplayAll()
+
+        self.assertEqual(rv_should_be, self.http._cs_request(URL, METHOD))
+        self.mox.VerifyAll()