diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/pom.xml b/maven-plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/pom.xml
index a97cf679b2..6e9456856b 100644
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/pom.xml
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/pom.xml
@@ -34,4 +34,10 @@
       <scope>runtime</scope>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
+  <contributors>
+    <contributor>
+      <name>Joakim Erdfelt</name>
+      <email>joakim@erdfelt.com</email>
+    </contributor>
+  </contributors>
 </project>
diff --git a/maven-plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/test/SurefirePlugin.java b/maven-plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/test/SurefirePlugin.java
index 16a4695d31..913388d9de 100644
--- a/maven-plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/test/SurefirePlugin.java
+++ b/maven-plugins/maven-surefire-plugin/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/test/SurefirePlugin.java
@@ -46,10 +46,16 @@ public class SurefirePlugin
 {
     /**
      *  Set this to 'true' to bypass unit tests entirely. Its use is NOT RECOMMENDED, but quite convenient on occasion.
-     * @parameter expression=${maven.test.skip}"
+     *
+     * @parameter expression="${maven.test.skip}"
      */
     private boolean skip;
 
+    /**
+     * @parameter expression="${maven.test.failure.ignore}"
+     */
+    private boolean testFailureIgnore = false;
+
     /**
      * @parameter expression="${basedir}"
      * @required
@@ -238,7 +244,16 @@ public class SurefirePlugin
 
         if ( !success )
         {
-            throw new MojoExecutionException( "There are some test failures." );
+            String msg = "There are some test failure.";
+
+            if ( testFailureIgnore )
+            {
+                getLog().error( msg );
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                throw new MojoExecutionException( msg );
+            }
         }
     }