diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
index f4d032ef84a3..3ba5676675ed 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
  * @author Arjen Poutsma
  * @author Rossen Stoyanchev
  * @author Juergen Hoeller
+ * @author Denys Ivano
  * @since 3.0
  * @see RestTemplate#setErrorHandler
  */
@@ -47,12 +48,14 @@ public class DefaultResponseErrorHandler implements ResponseErrorHandler {
 	 */
 	@Override
 	public boolean hasError(ClientHttpResponse response) throws IOException {
+		HttpStatus statusCode;
 		try {
-			return hasError(getHttpStatusCode(response));
+			statusCode = response.getStatusCode();
 		}
-		catch (UnknownHttpStatusCodeException ex) {
+		catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
 			return false;
 		}
+		return hasError(statusCode);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests.java
index 950a21fdf137..368bb78bfceb 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@
 import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 import org.springframework.http.client.ClientHttpResponse;
+import org.springframework.util.StreamUtils;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 import static org.mockito.BDDMockito.*;
@@ -34,9 +36,12 @@
  *
  * @author Arjen Poutsma
  * @author Juergen Hoeller
+ * @author Denys Ivano
  */
 public class DefaultResponseErrorHandlerTests {
 
+	private final Charset UTF8 = Charset.forName("UTF-8");
+
 	private final DefaultResponseErrorHandler handler = new DefaultResponseErrorHandler();
 
 	private final ClientHttpResponse response = mock(ClientHttpResponse.class);
@@ -122,4 +127,55 @@ public void hasErrorForUnknownStatusCode() throws Exception {
 		assertFalse(handler.hasError(response));
 	}
 
+	@Test  // SPR-16604
+	public void bodyAvailableAfterHasErrorForUnknownStatusCode() throws Exception {
+		HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
+		headers.setContentType(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN);
+		TestByteArrayInputStream body = new TestByteArrayInputStream("Hello World".getBytes("UTF-8"));
+
+		given(response.getStatusCode()).willThrow(new IllegalArgumentException("No matching constant for 999"));
+		given(response.getStatusText()).willReturn("Custom status code");
+		given(response.getHeaders()).willReturn(headers);
+		given(response.getBody()).willReturn(body);
+
+		assertFalse(handler.hasError(response));
+		assertFalse(body.isClosed());
+		assertEquals("Hello World", StreamUtils.copyToString(response.getBody(), UTF8));
+	}
+
+	class TestByteArrayInputStream extends ByteArrayInputStream {
+
+		private boolean closed;
+
+		public TestByteArrayInputStream(byte[] buf) {
+			super(buf);
+			this.closed = false;
+		}
+
+		public boolean isClosed() {
+			return closed;
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		public boolean markSupported() {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		public synchronized void mark(int readlimit) {
+			throw new UnsupportedOperationException("mark/reset not supported");
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		public synchronized void reset() {
+			throw new UnsupportedOperationException("mark/reset not supported");
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		public void close() throws IOException {
+			super.close();
+			this.closed = true;
+		}
+	}
+
 }