diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/SimpleClientHttpResponse.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/SimpleClientHttpResponse.java
index 70f169c2a5e5..22cf7b59c1dc 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/SimpleClientHttpResponse.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/SimpleClientHttpResponse.java
@@ -91,14 +91,15 @@ public InputStream getBody() throws IOException {
 
 	@Override
 	public void close() {
-		if (this.responseStream != null) {
-			try {
-				StreamUtils.drain(this.responseStream);
-				this.responseStream.close();
-			}
-			catch (Exception ex) {
-				// ignore
+		try {
+			if (this.responseStream == null) {
+				getBody();
 			}
+			StreamUtils.drain(this.responseStream);
+			this.responseStream.close();
+		}
+		catch (Exception ex) {
+			// ignore
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/AbstractHttpRequestFactoryTestCase.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/AbstractHttpRequestFactoryTestCase.java
index 954d0ed5b09d..af862c971a52 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/AbstractHttpRequestFactoryTestCase.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/AbstractHttpRequestFactoryTestCase.java
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ public void multipleWrites() throws Exception {
 
 	@Test(expected = UnsupportedOperationException.class)
 	public void headersAfterExecute() throws Exception {
-		ClientHttpRequest request = factory.createRequest(new URI(baseUrl + "/echo"), HttpMethod.POST);
+		ClientHttpRequest request = factory.createRequest(new URI(baseUrl + "/status/ok"), HttpMethod.POST);
 
 		request.getHeaders().add("MyHeader", "value");
 		byte[] body = "Hello World".getBytes("UTF-8");
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/SimpleClientHttpResponseTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/SimpleClientHttpResponseTests.java
index 9025b3d9ead4..c4157f638932 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/SimpleClientHttpResponseTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/http/client/SimpleClientHttpResponseTests.java
@@ -106,6 +106,18 @@ public void shouldNotDrainWhenErrorStreamClosed() throws Exception {
 		verify(is).close();
 	}
 
+	@Test // SPR-17181
+	public void shouldDrainResponseEvenIfResponseNotRead() throws Exception {
+		TestByteArrayInputStream is = new TestByteArrayInputStream("SpringSpring".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+		given(this.connection.getErrorStream()).willReturn(null);
+		given(this.connection.getInputStream()).willReturn(is);
+
+		this.response.close();
+		assertThat(is.available(), is(0));
+		assertTrue(is.isClosed());
+		verify(this.connection, never()).disconnect();
+	}
+
 
 	private static class TestByteArrayInputStream extends ByteArrayInputStream {