diff --git a/cmd/zed/zed.d/io-spare.sh b/cmd/zed/zed.d/io-spare.sh
index dd5bf4e0f..894817317 100755
--- a/cmd/zed/zed.d/io-spare.sh
+++ b/cmd/zed/zed.d/io-spare.sh
@@ -54,10 +54,11 @@ flock -x 8
 # Given a <pool> and <device> return the status, (ONLINE, FAULTED, etc...).
 vdev_status() {
 	local POOL=$1
-	local VDEV=`basename $2`
+	local VDEV=$2
+	local T='	'	# tab character since '\t' isn't portable
 
-	${ZPOOL} status ${POOL} | \
-	    awk -v pat="${VDEV}|${VDEV/-part?}" '$0 ~ pat { print $1" "$2 }'
+	${ZPOOL} status ${POOL} | sed -n -e \
+	    "s,^[ $T]*\(.*$VDEV\(-part[0-9]\+\)\?\)[ $T]*\([A-Z]\+\).*,\1 \3,p"
 	return 0
 }