diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/http/backends/xhr_backend.ts b/modules/angular2/src/http/backends/xhr_backend.ts
index 2b80f99209..ebdc7a4be9 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/http/backends/xhr_backend.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/http/backends/xhr_backend.ts
@@ -36,8 +36,21 @@ export class XHRConnection implements Connection {
     // TODO(jeffbcross): implement error listening/propagation
     this._xhr.open(requestMethodsMap.getMethod(ENUM_INDEX(req.method)), req.url);
     this._xhr.addEventListener('load', (_) => {
-      var responseOptions = new ResponseOptions(
-          {body: isPresent(this._xhr.response) ? this._xhr.response : this._xhr.responseText});
+      // responseText is the old-school way of retrieving response (supported by IE8 & 9)
+      // response/responseType properties were introduced in XHR Level2 spec (supported by IE10)
+      let response = isPresent(this._xhr.response) ? this._xhr.response : this._xhr.responseText;
+
+      // normalize IE9 bug (http://bugs.jquery.com/ticket/1450)
+      let status = this._xhr.status === 1223 ? 204 : this._xhr.status;
+
+      // fix status code when it is 0 (0 status is undocumented).
+      // Occurs when accessing file resources or on Android 4.1 stock browser
+      // while retrieving files from application cache.
+      if (status === 0) {
+        status = response ? 200 : 0;
+      }
+
+      var responseOptions = new ResponseOptions({body: response, status: status});
       if (isPresent(baseResponseOptions)) {
         responseOptions = baseResponseOptions.merge(responseOptions);
       }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/http/backends/xhr_backend_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/http/backends/xhr_backend_spec.ts
index 88b90d2d24..848ecc2b8d 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/http/backends/xhr_backend_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/http/backends/xhr_backend_spec.ts
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ class MockBrowserXHR extends BrowserXhr {
   responseText: string;
   setRequestHeader: any;
   callbacks: Map<string, Function>;
+  status: number;
   constructor() {
     super();
     var spy = new SpyObject();
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ class MockBrowserXHR extends BrowserXhr {
     this.callbacks = new Map();
   }
 
+  setStatusCode(status) { this.status = status; }
   addEventListener(type: string, cb: Function) { this.callbacks.set(type, cb); }
 
   dispatchEvent(type: string) { this.callbacks.get(type)({}); }
@@ -135,6 +137,35 @@ export function main() {
         expect(setRequestHeaderSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith('Content-Type', ['text/xml']);
         expect(setRequestHeaderSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith('Breaking-Bad', ['<3']);
       });
+
+      it('should return the correct status code', inject([AsyncTestCompleter], async => {
+           var statusCode = 418;
+           var connection = new XHRConnection(sampleRequest, new MockBrowserXHR(),
+                                              new ResponseOptions({status: statusCode}));
+
+           ObservableWrapper.subscribe(connection.response, res => {
+             expect(res.status).toBe(statusCode);
+             async.done();
+           });
+
+           existingXHRs[0].setStatusCode(statusCode);
+           existingXHRs[0].dispatchEvent('load');
+         }));
+
+      it('should normalize IE\'s 1223 status code into 204', inject([AsyncTestCompleter], async => {
+           var statusCode = 1223;
+           var normalizedCode = 204;
+           var connection = new XHRConnection(sampleRequest, new MockBrowserXHR(),
+                                              new ResponseOptions({status: statusCode}));
+
+           ObservableWrapper.subscribe(connection.response, res => {
+             expect(res.status).toBe(normalizedCode);
+             async.done();
+           });
+
+           existingXHRs[0].setStatusCode(statusCode);
+           existingXHRs[0].dispatchEvent('load');
+         }));
     });
   });
 }