diff --git a/source/utf8/unchecked.h b/source/utf8/unchecked.h
index 8fe83c9..7981839 100644
--- a/source/utf8/unchecked.h
+++ b/source/utf8/unchecked.h
@@ -155,7 +155,9 @@ namespace utf8
         {
             while (start != end) {
                 uint32_t cp = utf8::internal::mask16(*start++);
-            // Take care of surrogate pairs first
+                if (start == end)
+                    return result;
+                // Take care of surrogate pairs first
                 if (utf8::internal::is_lead_surrogate(cp)) {
                     uint32_t trail_surrogate = utf8::internal::mask16(*start++);
                     cp = (cp << 10) + trail_surrogate + internal::SURROGATE_OFFSET;
diff --git a/tests/test_unchecked_api.h b/tests/test_unchecked_api.h
index 10c5991..66d0400 100644
--- a/tests/test_unchecked_api.h
+++ b/tests/test_unchecked_api.h
@@ -137,6 +137,11 @@ TEST(UnCheckedAPITests, test_utf16to8)
     string utf8result;
     utf8::unchecked::utf16to8(utf16string, utf16string + 5, back_inserter(utf8result));
     EXPECT_EQ (utf8result.size(), 10);
+
+    utf8result.clear();
+    unsigned short highsurrogateonly[] = {0xd800};
+    utf8::unchecked::utf16to8(highsurrogateonly, highsurrogateonly + 1, back_inserter(utf8result));
+    EXPECT_TRUE(true); // we didn't crash
 }
 
 TEST(UnCheckedAPITests, test_utf8to16)