diff --git a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpClientCodec.java b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpClientCodec.java
index 35d7d6cf82..ed4bfbec70 100644
--- a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpClientCodec.java
+++ b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpClientCodec.java
@@ -16,12 +16,15 @@
 package io.netty.handler.codec.http;
 
 import io.netty.buffer.ChannelBuffer;
+import io.netty.channel.Channel;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelInboundHandlerContext;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelOutboundHandlerContext;
 import io.netty.channel.CombinedChannelHandler;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.PrematureChannelClosureException;
 import io.netty.util.internal.QueueFactory;
 
 import java.util.Queue;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
 
 /**
  * A combination of {@link HttpRequestEncoder} and {@link HttpResponseDecoder}
@@ -31,6 +34,10 @@ import java.util.Queue;
  * {@link HttpResponseDecoder} to learn what additional state management needs
  * to be done for <tt>HEAD</tt> and <tt>CONNECT</tt> and why
  * {@link HttpResponseDecoder} can not handle it by itself.
+ *
+ * If the {@link Channel} is closed and there are missing responses,
+ * a {@link PrematureChannelClosureException} is thrown.
+ *
  * @see HttpServerCodec
  *
  * @apiviz.has io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseDecoder
@@ -44,13 +51,16 @@ public class HttpClientCodec extends CombinedChannelHandler {
     /** If true, decoding stops (i.e. pass-through) */
     volatile boolean done;
 
+    private final AtomicLong requestResponseCounter = new AtomicLong();
+    private final boolean failOnMissingResponse;
+
     /**
      * Creates a new instance with the default decoder options
      * ({@code maxInitialLineLength (4096}}, {@code maxHeaderSize (8192)}, and
      * {@code maxChunkSize (8192)}).
      */
     public HttpClientCodec() {
-        this(4096, 8192, 8192);
+        this(4096, 8192, 8192, false);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -58,9 +68,17 @@ public class HttpClientCodec extends CombinedChannelHandler {
      */
     public HttpClientCodec(
             int maxInitialLineLength, int maxHeaderSize, int maxChunkSize) {
+        this(maxInitialLineLength, maxHeaderSize, maxChunkSize, false);
+    }
+
+    public HttpClientCodec(
+            int maxInitialLineLength, int maxHeaderSize, int maxChunkSize,
+            boolean failOnMissingResponse) {
+
         init(
                 new Decoder(maxInitialLineLength, maxHeaderSize, maxChunkSize),
                 new Encoder());
+        this.failOnMissingResponse = failOnMissingResponse;
     }
 
     private final class Encoder extends HttpRequestEncoder {
@@ -70,7 +88,18 @@ public class HttpClientCodec extends CombinedChannelHandler {
             if (msg instanceof HttpRequest && !done) {
                 queue.offer(((HttpRequest) msg).getMethod());
             }
+
             super.encode(ctx, msg, out);
+
+            if (failOnMissingResponse) {
+                // check if the request is chunked if so do not increment
+                if (msg instanceof HttpRequest && !((HttpRequest) msg).isChunked()) {
+                    requestResponseCounter.incrementAndGet();
+                } else if (msg instanceof HttpChunk && ((HttpChunk) msg).isLast()) {
+                    // increment as its the last chunk
+                    requestResponseCounter.incrementAndGet();
+                }
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -86,7 +115,28 @@ public class HttpClientCodec extends CombinedChannelHandler {
             if (done) {
                 return buffer.readBytes(actualReadableBytes());
             } else {
-                return super.decode(ctx, buffer);
+                Object msg = super.decode(ctx, buffer);
+                if (failOnMissingResponse) {
+                    decrement(msg);
+                }
+                return msg;
+            }
+        }
+
+        private void decrement(Object msg) {
+            if (msg == null) {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            // check if its a HttpMessage and its not chunked
+            if (msg instanceof HttpMessage && !((HttpMessage) msg).isChunked()) {
+                requestResponseCounter.decrementAndGet();
+            } else if (msg instanceof HttpChunk && ((HttpChunk) msg).isLast()) {
+                requestResponseCounter.decrementAndGet();
+            } else if (msg instanceof Object[]) {
+                // we just decrement it here as we only use this if the end of the chunk is reached
+                // It would be more safe to check all the objects in the array but would also be slower
+                requestResponseCounter.decrementAndGet();
             }
         }
 
@@ -141,5 +191,20 @@ public class HttpClientCodec extends CombinedChannelHandler {
 
             return super.isContentAlwaysEmpty(msg);
         }
+
+        @Override
+        public void channelInactive(ChannelInboundHandlerContext<Byte> ctx)
+                throws Exception {
+            super.channelInactive(ctx);
+
+            if (failOnMissingResponse) {
+                long missingResponses = requestResponseCounter.get();
+                if (missingResponses > 0) {
+                    ctx.fireExceptionCaught(new PrematureChannelClosureException(
+                            "channel gone inactive with " + missingResponses +
+                            " missing response(s)"));
+                }
+            }
+        }
     }
 }