diff --git a/powerline/bindings/bash/powerline.sh b/powerline/bindings/bash/powerline.sh
index 4ec0d72c..618cb0d0 100644
--- a/powerline/bindings/bash/powerline.sh
+++ b/powerline/bindings/bash/powerline.sh
@@ -31,10 +31,26 @@ _powerline_return() {
 	return $1
 }
 
+_POWERLINE_HAS_PIPESTATUS=
+
+_powerline_has_pipestatus() {
+	if test -z "$_POWERLINE_HAS_PIPESTATUS" ; then
+		_powerline_return 0 | _powerline_return 43
+		if test "${PIPESTATUS[*]}" = "0 43" ; then
+			_POWERLINE_HAS_PIPESTATUS=0
+		else
+			_POWERLINE_HAS_PIPESTATUS=1
+		fi
+	fi
+	return $_POWERLINE_HAS_PIPESTATUS
+}
+
 _powerline_status_wrapper() {
 	local last_exit_code=$? last_pipe_status=( "${PIPESTATUS[@]}" )
 
-	if test "$last_exit_code" != "${last_pipe_status[-1]}" ; then
+	if ! _powerline_has_pipestatus \
+	   || test "${#last_pipe_status[@]}" -eq "0" \
+	   || test "$last_exit_code" != "${last_pipe_status[-1]}" ; then
 		last_pipe_status=()
 	fi
 	"$@" $last_exit_code "${last_pipe_status[*]}"