diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/fd/NodesFaultDetection.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/fd/NodesFaultDetection.java
index 53081f55d21..2abe730b1e8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/fd/NodesFaultDetection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/fd/NodesFaultDetection.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsRejectedExecutionException;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.*;
 
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ConcurrentCollections.new
 public class NodesFaultDetection extends FaultDetection {
 
     public static final String PING_ACTION_NAME = "internal:discovery/zen/fd/ping";
-    
+
     public abstract static class Listener {
 
         public void onNodeFailure(DiscoveryNode node, String reason) {}
@@ -145,14 +146,18 @@ public class NodesFaultDetection extends FaultDetection {
     }
 
     private void notifyNodeFailure(final DiscoveryNode node, final String reason) {
-        threadPool.generic().execute(new Runnable() {
-            @Override
-            public void run() {
-                for (Listener listener : listeners) {
-                    listener.onNodeFailure(node, reason);
+        try {
+            threadPool.generic().execute(new Runnable() {
+                @Override
+                public void run() {
+                    for (Listener listener : listeners) {
+                        listener.onNodeFailure(node, reason);
+                    }
                 }
-            }
-        });
+            });
+        } catch (EsRejectedExecutionException ex) {
+            logger.trace("[node  ] [{}] ignoring node failure (reason [{}]). Local node is shutting down", ex, node, reason);
+        }
     }
 
     private void notifyPingReceived(final PingRequest pingRequest) {