diff --git a/plugins/FeedsParser.inc b/plugins/FeedsParser.inc
index 1132620321c52818fd821f1201e3840787d44d71..c864f291738cf0967ad0938a77a0877c22173151 100644
--- a/plugins/FeedsParser.inc
+++ b/plugins/FeedsParser.inc
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ class FeedsDateTime extends DateTime {
     $time = str_replace("GMT+", "+", $time);
 
     // Some PHP 5.2 version's DateTime class chokes on invalid dates.
-    if (!strtotime($time)) {
+    if (!date_create($time)) {
       $time = 'now';
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/feeds_date_time.test b/tests/feeds_date_time.test
index 8ced8438cc2fc21290310e55af4663a2f83b751d..989179dfdcb4c7a37d0cc5e21cfcdead783172d9 100644
--- a/tests/feeds_date_time.test
+++ b/tests/feeds_date_time.test
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ class FeedsDateTimeTest extends FeedsWebTestCase {
     $date1 = new FeedsDateTime(2012);
     $date2 = new FeedsDateTime('January 2012');
     $this->assertEqual($date1->format('U'), $date2->format('U'));
+
+    // Check that years before 1902 work correctly.
+    $early_date_string = '01/02/1901';
+    $date = new FeedsDateTime($early_date_string);
+    $this->assertEqual($date->format('m/d/Y'), $early_date_string);
   }
 
 }