diff --git a/module/spl/spl-err.c b/module/spl/spl-err.c
index cf9f096b1..2f66b6e23 100644
--- a/module/spl/spl-err.c
+++ b/module/spl/spl-err.c
@@ -28,6 +28,17 @@
 #include <sys/cmn_err.h>
 #include <linux/ratelimit.h>
 
+/*
+ * It is often useful to actually have the panic crash the node so you
+ * can then get notified of the event, get the crashdump for later
+ * analysis and other such goodies.
+ * But we would still default to the current default of not to do that.
+ */
+unsigned int spl_panic_halt;
+module_param(spl_panic_halt, uint, 0644);
+MODULE_PARM_DESC(spl_panic_halt,
+		 "Cause kernel panic on assertion failures");
+
 /*
  * Limit the number of stack traces dumped to not more than 5 every
  * 60 seconds to prevent denial-of-service attacks from debug code.
@@ -62,6 +73,9 @@ spl_panic(const char *file, const char *func, int line, const char *fmt, ...) {
 
 	printk(KERN_EMERG "%s", msg);
 	printk(KERN_EMERG "PANIC at %s:%d:%s()\n", newfile, line, func);
+	if (spl_panic_halt)
+		panic("%s", msg);
+
 	spl_dumpstack();
 
 	/* Halt the thread to facilitate further debugging */