diff --git a/src/expat_erl.c b/src/expat_erl.c
index 7831a9063..f933fac39 100644
--- a/src/expat_erl.c
+++ b/src/expat_erl.c
@@ -179,6 +179,8 @@ static ErlDrvData expat_erl_start(ErlDrvPort port, char *buff)
       d->parser, (XML_StartNamespaceDeclHandler) erlXML_StartNamespaceDeclHandler);
    XML_SetReturnNSTriplet(d->parser, 1);
 
+   XML_SetDefaultHandler(d->parser, NULL);
+
    return (ErlDrvData)d;
 }