diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index d1d71071e..dea361bc0 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ New in spot 2.5.3.dev  (not yet released)
   - autcross' tool specifications now have %M replaced by the name of
     the input automaton.
 
+  - autcross now aborts if there is any parser diagnostic for the
+    input automata (previous versions would use the input automaton
+    whenever the parser would manage to read something).
+
   - autfilt learned --is-colored to filter automata that use
     exactly one acceptance set per mark or transition.
 
diff --git a/bin/autcross.cc b/bin/autcross.cc
index 8aaf2822c..0d1ab9de7 100644
--- a/bin/autcross.cc
+++ b/bin/autcross.cc
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@ namespace
     autcross_runner runner;
   public:
     autcross_processor()
-      : hoa_processor(spot::make_bdd_dict()), runner(dict_)
+      : hoa_processor(spot::make_bdd_dict(), true), runner(dict_)
     {
     }
 
@@ -829,13 +829,13 @@ main(int argc, char** argv)
       if (int err = argp_parse(&ap, argc, argv, ARGP_NO_HELP, nullptr, nullptr))
         exit(err);
 
-      check_no_automaton();
-
       auto s = tools.size();
       if (s == 0)
         error(2, 0, "No tool to run?  Run '%s --help' for usage.",
               program_name);
 
+      check_no_automaton();
+
       if (s == 1 && !opt_language_preserved && !no_checks)
         error(2, 0, "Since --language-preserved is not used, you need "
               "at least two tools to compare.");
@@ -845,8 +845,7 @@ main(int argc, char** argv)
       setup_sig_handler();
 
       autcross_processor p;
-      if (p.run())
-        return 2;
+      p.run();
 
       if (round_num == 0)
         {
diff --git a/bin/common_hoaread.hh b/bin/common_hoaread.hh
index b7ddc47a4..b3cc912a5 100644
--- a/bin/common_hoaread.hh
+++ b/bin/common_hoaread.hh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-// Copyright (C) 2015, 2017 Laboratoire de Recherche et Développement de
+// Copyright (C) 2015, 2017, 2018 Laboratoire de Recherche et Développement de
 // l'Epita (LRDE).
 //
 // This file is part of Spot, a model checking library.
@@ -45,10 +45,11 @@ class hoa_processor: public job_processor
 {
 protected:
   spot::bdd_dict_ptr dict_;
+  bool abort_on_error_;
 public:
 
-  hoa_processor(spot::bdd_dict_ptr dict)
-    : dict_(dict)
+  hoa_processor(spot::bdd_dict_ptr dict, bool abort_on_error = false)
+    : dict_(dict), abort_on_error_(abort_on_error)
   {
   }
 
@@ -131,7 +132,7 @@ public:
           break;
         if (haut->format_errors(std::cerr))
           err = 2;
-        if (!haut->aut)
+        if (!haut->aut || (err && abort_on_error_))
           error(2, 0, "failed to read automaton from %s",
                 haut->filename.c_str());
         else if (haut->aborted)
diff --git a/tests/core/autcross4.test b/tests/core/autcross4.test
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index ce21ab31f..6b6b1335f
--- a/tests/core/autcross4.test
+++ b/tests/core/autcross4.test
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-# Test the timeout handling of autcross.
 . ./defs
 set -e
 
@@ -48,6 +47,34 @@ State: 0
 --END--
 EOF
 
-autcross -Fin 'ltl2tgba %[no]M>%O' 'ltl2tgba %M>%O' --csv=out.csv && exit 1
+autcross --verbose \
+         -Fin 'ltl2tgba %[no]M>%O' 'ltl2tgba %M>%O' --csv=out.csv && exit 1
 test 3 = `grep -c '"ok"' out.csv`
 
+sed 's/AP: 0/AP: 0 "a"/g' in |
+    autcross --language-preserved autfilt 2>err && exit 1
+grep 'autcross: failed to read automaton from -' err
+
+autcross -T3 --verbose --language-preserved --ignore-execution-failures \
+         --csv=out.csv --omit-missing --low --medium --high --stop-on-error \
+         'sleep 10; autfilt %H>%O' 'false %H %O' 2>err -Fin
+cat err
+grep 'some error was detected' err && exit 1
+grep 'No major problem' err
+grep '2 timeouts occurred' err
+grep '2 non-zero exit statuses were ignored' err
+test 1 = `wc -l < out.csv`
+
+autcross -T3 --verbose --language-preserved --ignore-execution-failures \
+         --csv=out.csv --omit-missing --low --medium --high --stop-on-error \
+         --fail-on-timeout \
+         'sleep 10; autfilt %H>%O' 'false %H %O' 2>err -Fin && exit 1
+cat err
+grep 'No major problem' err && exit 1
+grep 'some error was detected ' err
+grep '1 non-zero exit status was ignored' err
+test 1 = `wc -l < out.csv`
+
+autcross - 2> err && exit 1
+cat err
+grep 'autcross: No tool to run' err