diff --git a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/DefaultTypeAdapters.java b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/DefaultTypeAdapters.java
index 67fd70a8..2779c708 100644
--- a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/DefaultTypeAdapters.java
+++ b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/DefaultTypeAdapters.java
@@ -36,8 +36,6 @@ import com.google.gson.internal.ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap;
  */
 final class DefaultTypeAdapters {
 
-  private static final DefaultDateTypeAdapter DATE_TYPE_ADAPTER = new DefaultDateTypeAdapter();
-
   // The constants DEFAULT_SERIALIZERS, DEFAULT_DESERIALIZERS, and DEFAULT_INSTANCE_CREATORS
   // must be defined after the constants for the type adapters. Otherwise, the type adapter
   // constants will appear as nulls.
@@ -51,10 +49,6 @@ final class DefaultTypeAdapters {
   private static ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<JsonSerializer<?>> createDefaultSerializers() {
     ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<JsonSerializer<?>> map =
         new ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<JsonSerializer<?>>();
-
-    map.register(Date.class, DATE_TYPE_ADAPTER, true);
-    map.register(Timestamp.class, DATE_TYPE_ADAPTER, true);
-
     map.makeUnmodifiable();
     return map;
   }
@@ -62,8 +56,6 @@ final class DefaultTypeAdapters {
   private static ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<JsonDeserializer<?>> createDefaultDeserializers() {
     ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<JsonDeserializer<?>> map =
         new ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap<JsonDeserializer<?>>();
-    map.register(Date.class, wrapDeserializer(DATE_TYPE_ADAPTER), true);
-
     map.makeUnmodifiable();
     return map;
   }
@@ -75,11 +67,6 @@ final class DefaultTypeAdapters {
     return map;
   }
 
-  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
-  private static JsonDeserializer<?> wrapDeserializer(JsonDeserializer<?> deserializer) {
-    return new JsonDeserializerExceptionWrapper(deserializer);
-  }
-
   /**
    * This type adapter supports three subclasses of date: Date, Timestamp, and
    * java.sql.Date.
diff --git a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/Gson.java b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/Gson.java
index 353c171a..12e44f8f 100644
--- a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/Gson.java
+++ b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/Gson.java
@@ -16,6 +16,21 @@
 
 package com.google.gson;
 
+import java.io.EOFException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.Reader;
+import java.io.StringReader;
+import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.io.Writer;
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
+import java.lang.reflect.Type;
+import java.math.BigDecimal;
+import java.math.BigInteger;
+import java.util.LinkedList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
 import com.google.gson.internal.ConstructorConstructor;
 import com.google.gson.internal.ParameterizedTypeHandlerMap;
 import com.google.gson.internal.Primitives;
@@ -36,20 +51,6 @@ import com.google.gson.stream.JsonReader;
 import com.google.gson.stream.JsonToken;
 import com.google.gson.stream.JsonWriter;
 import com.google.gson.stream.MalformedJsonException;
-import java.io.EOFException;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.Reader;
-import java.io.StringReader;
-import java.io.StringWriter;
-import java.io.Writer;
-import java.lang.reflect.Field;
-import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
-import java.lang.reflect.Type;
-import java.math.BigDecimal;
-import java.math.BigInteger;
-import java.util.LinkedList;
-import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
  * This is the main class for using Gson. Gson is typically used by first constructing a
@@ -254,6 +255,7 @@ public final class Gson {
         .factory(TypeAdapters.LOCALE_FACTORY)
         .factory(TypeAdapters.INET_ADDRESS_FACTORY)
         .factory(TypeAdapters.BIT_SET_FACTORY)
+        .factory(TypeAdapters.DATE_FACTORY)
         .factory(TypeAdapters.CALENDAR_FACTORY)
         .factory(TypeAdapters.SQL_TIME_FACTORY)
         .factory(TypeAdapters.SQL_DATE_FACTORY)
diff --git a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/internal/bind/TypeAdapters.java b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/internal/bind/TypeAdapters.java
index c4a0a187..f4c1f014 100644
--- a/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/internal/bind/TypeAdapters.java
+++ b/gson/src/main/java/com/google/gson/internal/bind/TypeAdapters.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.GregorianCalendar;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.StringTokenizer;
+import java.util.TimeZone;
 import java.util.UUID;
 
 import com.google.gson.JsonIOException;
@@ -411,6 +412,52 @@ public final class TypeAdapters {
     }
   };
 
+  private static DateFormat buildIso8601Format() {
+    DateFormat iso8601Format = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'", Locale.US);
+    iso8601Format.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
+    return iso8601Format;
+  }
+  
+  public static final TypeAdapter<Date> DATE = new TypeAdapter<Date>() {
+    private final DateFormat enUsFormat =
+    DateFormat.getDateTimeInstance(DateFormat.DEFAULT, DateFormat.DEFAULT, Locale.US);
+    private final DateFormat localFormat =
+    DateFormat.getDateTimeInstance(DateFormat.DEFAULT, DateFormat.DEFAULT);
+    private final DateFormat iso8601Format = buildIso8601Format();
+    @Override
+    public Date read(JsonReader reader) throws IOException {
+      return deserializeToDate(reader.nextString());
+    }
+
+    private Date deserializeToDate(String json) {
+      synchronized (localFormat) {
+        try {
+          return localFormat.parse(json);
+        } catch (ParseException ignored) {
+        }
+        try {
+          return enUsFormat.parse(json);
+        } catch (ParseException ignored) {
+        }
+        try {
+          return iso8601Format.parse(json);
+        } catch (ParseException e) {
+          throw new JsonSyntaxException(json, e);
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void write(JsonWriter writer, Date value) throws IOException {
+      synchronized (localFormat) {
+        String dateFormatAsString = enUsFormat.format(value);
+        writer.value(dateFormatAsString);
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
+  public static final TypeAdapter.Factory DATE_FACTORY = newFactory(Date.class, DATE);
+
   public static final TypeAdapter.Factory UUID_FACTORY = newFactory(UUID.class, UUID);
 
   public static final TypeAdapter<Time> SQL_TIME = new TypeAdapter<Time>() {
@@ -435,7 +482,6 @@ public final class TypeAdapters {
   public static final TypeAdapter.Factory SQL_TIME_FACTORY = newFactory(Time.class, SQL_TIME);
 
   private static final class TimestampTypeAdapter extends TypeAdapter<Timestamp> {
-    private final DateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("hh:mm:ss a");
     private final MiniGson context;
     public TimestampTypeAdapter(MiniGson context) {
       this.context = context;
@@ -448,7 +494,8 @@ public final class TypeAdapters {
     }
     @Override
     public void write(JsonWriter writer, Timestamp value) throws IOException {
-      writer.value(format.format(value));
+      TypeAdapter<Date> dateTypeAdapter = context.getAdapter(Date.class);
+      dateTypeAdapter.write(writer, value);
     }
   };
   public static final TypeAdapter.Factory SQL_TIMESTAMP_FACTORY = new TypeAdapter.Factory() {