diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/time/FastDateFormat.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/time/FastDateFormat.java
index 8be2e6133..51da48e13 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/time/FastDateFormat.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/time/FastDateFormat.java
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
  * </p>
  *
  * <p>Only formatting is supported, but all patterns are compatible with
- * SimpleDateFormat (except time zones - see below).</p>
+ * SimpleDateFormat (except time zones and some year patterns - see below).</p>
  *
  * <p>Java 1.4 introduced a new pattern letter, {@code 'Z'}, to represent
  * time zones in RFC822 format (eg. {@code +0800} or {@code -1100}).
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@
  * This introduces a minor incompatibility with Java 1.4, but at a gain of
  * useful functionality.</p>
  *
+ * <p>Javadoc cites for the year pattern: <i>For formatting, if the number of
+ * pattern letters is 2, the year is truncated to 2 digits; otherwise it is
+ * interpreted as a number.</i> Starting with Java 1.7 a pattern of 'Y' or
+ * 'YYY' will be formatted as '2003', while it was '03' in former Java
+ * versions. FastDateFormat implements the behavior of Java 7.</p>
+ *
  * @since 2.0
  * @version $Id$
  */
@@ -486,10 +492,10 @@ protected List<Rule> parsePattern() {
                 rule = new TextField(Calendar.ERA, ERAs);
                 break;
             case 'y': // year (number)
-                if (tokenLen >= 4) {
-                    rule = selectNumberRule(Calendar.YEAR, tokenLen);
-                } else {
+                if (tokenLen == 2) {
                     rule = TwoDigitYearField.INSTANCE;
+                } else {
+                    rule = selectNumberRule(Calendar.YEAR, tokenLen < 4 ? 4 : tokenLen);
                 }
                 break;
             case 'M': // month in year (text and number)
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/time/FastDateFormatTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/time/FastDateFormatTest.java
index e4cde1a46..6feb57d1b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/time/FastDateFormatTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/time/FastDateFormatTest.java
@@ -216,8 +216,9 @@ public void testFormat() {
                 " dddd ddd dd d DDDD DDD DD D EEEE EEE EE E aaaa aaa aa a zzzz zzz zz z";
             fdf = FastDateFormat.getInstance(pattern);
             sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(pattern);
-            assertEquals(sdf.format(date1), fdf.format(date1));
-            assertEquals(sdf.format(date2), fdf.format(date2));
+            // SDF bug fix starting with Java 7
+            assertEquals(sdf.format(date1).replaceAll("2003 03 03 03", "2003 2003 03 2003"), fdf.format(date1));
+            assertEquals(sdf.format(date2).replaceAll("2003 03 03 03", "2003 2003 03 2003"), fdf.format(date2));
         } finally {
             Locale.setDefault(realDefaultLocale);
             TimeZone.setDefault(realDefaultZone);