diff --git a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/MappedObjectConstructor.java b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/MappedObjectConstructor.java
index 0ad8ebb4..a34be7c0 100644
--- a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/MappedObjectConstructor.java
+++ b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/MappedObjectConstructor.java
@@ -16,11 +16,15 @@
 
 package com.google.gson;
 
-import java.lang.reflect.AccessibleObject;
+import sun.misc.Unsafe;
+
 import java.lang.reflect.Array;
 import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Type;
+import java.security.AccessController;
+import java.security.PrivilegedAction;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
@@ -36,6 +40,20 @@ import java.util.logging.Logger;
  */
 final class MappedObjectConstructor implements ObjectConstructor {
   private static final Logger log = Logger.getLogger(MappedObjectConstructor.class.getName());
+  private static final Unsafe THE_UNSAFE =  AccessController.doPrivileged(
+      new PrivilegedAction<Unsafe>() {
+        public Unsafe run() {
+          try {
+            Field f = Unsafe.class.getDeclaredField("theUnsafe");
+            f.setAccessible(true);
+            return (Unsafe) f.get(null);
+          } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
+            throw new Error();
+          } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
+            throw new Error();
+          }
+        }
+      });
 
   private final ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<InstanceCreator<?>> instanceCreatorMap;
   
@@ -57,12 +75,13 @@ final class MappedObjectConstructor implements ObjectConstructor {
     return Array.newInstance(Types.getRawType(type), length);
   }
 
+  @SuppressWarnings({"unchecked", "cast"})
   private <T> T constructWithNoArgConstructor(Type typeOfT) {
     try {
-      Constructor<T> constructor = getNoArgsConstructor(typeOfT);
+      Class<T> clazz = (Class<T>) Types.getRawType(typeOfT);
+      Constructor<T> constructor = getNoArgsConstructor(clazz);
       if (constructor == null) {
-        throw new RuntimeException(("No-args constructor for " + typeOfT + " does not exist. "
-            + "Register an InstanceCreator with Gson for this type to fix this problem."));
+        return (T) THE_UNSAFE.allocateInstance(clazz);
       }
       return constructor.newInstance();
     } catch (InstantiationException e) {
@@ -77,17 +96,14 @@ final class MappedObjectConstructor implements ObjectConstructor {
     }
   }
 
-  @SuppressWarnings({"unchecked", "cast"})
-  private <T> Constructor<T> getNoArgsConstructor(Type typeOfT) {
-    Class<?> clazz = Types.getRawType(typeOfT);
-    Constructor<T>[] declaredConstructors = (Constructor<T>[]) clazz.getDeclaredConstructors();
-    AccessibleObject.setAccessible(declaredConstructors, true);
-    for (Constructor<T> constructor : declaredConstructors) {
-      if (constructor.getParameterTypes().length == 0) {
-        return constructor;
-      }
+  private <T> Constructor<T> getNoArgsConstructor(Class<T> clazz) {
+    try {
+      Constructor<T> declaredConstructor = clazz.getDeclaredConstructor();
+      declaredConstructor.setAccessible(true);
+      return declaredConstructor;
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      return null;
     }
-    return null;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/MappedObjectConstructorTest.java b/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/MappedObjectConstructorTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..81e918a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gson/src/test/java/com/google/gson/MappedObjectConstructorTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2011 Google Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.google.gson;
+
+import com.google.gson.common.TestTypes.CrazyLongTypeAdapter;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Type;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for the {@link MappedObjectConstructor} class.
+ *
+ * @author Joel Leitch
+ */
+public class MappedObjectConstructorTest extends TestCase {
+  private ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<InstanceCreator<?>> creatorMap;
+  private MappedObjectConstructor constructor;
+  
+  @Override
+  protected void setUp() throws Exception {
+    super.setUp();
+    creatorMap = new ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<InstanceCreator<?>>();
+    constructor = new MappedObjectConstructor(creatorMap);
+  }
+
+  public void testInstanceCreatorTakesTopPrecedence() throws Exception {
+    creatorMap.register(ObjectWithDefaultConstructor.class, new MyInstanceCreator());
+    ObjectWithDefaultConstructor obj = 
+        constructor.construct(ObjectWithDefaultConstructor.class);
+    assertEquals("instanceCreator", obj.stringValue);
+    assertEquals(10, obj.intValue);
+  }
+  
+  public void testNoInstanceCreatorInvokesDefaultConstructor() throws Exception {
+    ObjectWithDefaultConstructor expected = new ObjectWithDefaultConstructor();
+    ObjectWithDefaultConstructor obj = 
+        constructor.construct(ObjectWithDefaultConstructor.class);
+    assertEquals(expected.stringValue, obj.stringValue);
+    assertEquals(expected.intValue, obj.intValue);
+  }
+  
+  public void testNoDefaultConstructor() throws Exception {
+    ObjectNoDefaultConstructor obj = constructor.construct(ObjectNoDefaultConstructor.class);
+    assertNull(obj.stringValue);
+    assertEquals(0, obj.intValue);
+  }
+  
+  private static class MyInstanceCreator
+      implements InstanceCreator<ObjectWithDefaultConstructor> {
+    public ObjectWithDefaultConstructor createInstance(Type type) {
+      return new ObjectWithDefaultConstructor("instanceCreator", 10);
+    }
+  }
+  
+  private static class ObjectWithDefaultConstructor {
+    public final String stringValue;
+    public final int intValue;
+    
+    private ObjectWithDefaultConstructor() {
+      this("default", 5);
+    }
+    
+    public ObjectWithDefaultConstructor(String stringValue, int intValue) {
+      this.stringValue = stringValue;
+      this.intValue = intValue;
+    }
+  }
+  
+  private static class ObjectNoDefaultConstructor extends ObjectWithDefaultConstructor {
+    public ObjectNoDefaultConstructor(String stringValue, int intValue) {
+      super(stringValue, intValue);
+    }
+  }
+}