diff --git a/test/simple/test-abort-fatal-error.js b/test/simple/test-abort-fatal-error.js
index d5d8866ecc..14b94eab34 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-abort-fatal-error.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-abort-fatal-error.js
@@ -34,6 +34,17 @@ cmdline += ' --max-old-space-size=4 --max-new-space-size=1';
 cmdline += ' -e "a = []; for (i = 0; i < 1e9; i++) { a.push({}) }"';
 
 exec(cmdline, function(err, stdout, stderr) {
-  assert(err);
-  assert(stderr.toString().match(/abort/i));
+  if (!err) {
+    console.log(stdout);
+    console.log(stderr);
+    assert(false, 'this test should fail');
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (err.code !== 134 || err.signal !== 'SIGABRT') {
+    console.log(stdout);
+    console.log(stderr);
+    console.log(err);
+    assert(false, err);
+  }
 });