diff --git a/common/host_command.c b/common/host_command.c
index e82887738e..3578efc36f 100644
--- a/common/host_command.c
+++ b/common/host_command.c
@@ -599,7 +599,7 @@ static void host_command_debug_request(struct host_cmd_handler_args *args)
 		CPRINTS("HC 0x%02x", args->command);
 }
 
-enum ec_status host_command_process(struct host_cmd_handler_args *args)
+uint16_t host_command_process(struct host_cmd_handler_args *args)
 {
 	const struct host_command *cmd;
 	int rv;
@@ -854,7 +854,7 @@ static int command_host_command(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	struct host_cmd_handler_args args;
 	char *cmd_params;
-	enum ec_status res;
+	uint16_t res;
 	char *e;
 	int rv;
 
diff --git a/include/ec_commands.h b/include/ec_commands.h
index 4ef579af65..40fbf0403b 100644
--- a/include/ec_commands.h
+++ b/include/ec_commands.h
@@ -460,7 +460,9 @@
 #define EC_LPC_STATUS_BUSY_MASK \
 	(EC_LPC_STATUS_FROM_HOST | EC_LPC_STATUS_PROCESSING)
 
-/* Host command response codes */
+/* Host command response codes (16-bit).  Note that response codes should be
+ * stored in a uint16_t rather than directly in a value of this type.
+ */
 enum ec_status {
 	EC_RES_SUCCESS = 0,
 	EC_RES_INVALID_COMMAND = 1,
@@ -477,8 +479,8 @@ enum ec_status {
 	EC_RES_INVALID_HEADER = 12,     /* Header contains invalid data */
 	EC_RES_REQUEST_TRUNCATED = 13,  /* Didn't get the entire request */
 	EC_RES_RESPONSE_TOO_BIG = 14,   /* Response was too big to handle */
-	EC_RES_BUS_ERROR = 15,          /* Communications bus error */
-	EC_RES_BUSY = 16                /* Up but too busy.  Should retry */
+	EC_RES_BUS_ERROR = 15,		/* Communications bus error */
+	EC_RES_BUSY = 16		/* Up but too busy.  Should retry */
 };
 
 /*
diff --git a/include/host_command.h b/include/host_command.h
index 02c9b07915..50466dc61d 100644
--- a/include/host_command.h
+++ b/include/host_command.h
@@ -48,8 +48,13 @@ struct host_cmd_handler_args {
 	 * command execution is complete. The driver may still override this
 	 * when sending the response back to the host if it detects an error
 	 * in the response or in its own operation.
+	 *
+	 * Note that while this holds an ec_status enum, we are intentionally
+	 * representing this field as a uint16_t, to prevent issues related to
+	 * compiler optimizations affecting the range of values representable
+	 * by this field.
 	 */
-	enum ec_status result;
+	uint16_t result;
 };
 
 /* Args for host packet handler */
@@ -95,8 +100,13 @@ struct host_packet {
 	 * Error from driver; if this is non-zero, host command handler will
 	 * return a properly formatted error response packet rather than
 	 * calling a command handler.
+	 *
+	 * Note that while this holds an ec_status enum, we are intentionally
+	 * representing this field as a uint16_t, to prevent issues related to
+	 * compiler optimizations affecting the range of values representable
+	 * by this field.
 	 */
-	enum ec_status driver_result;
+	uint16_t driver_result;
 };
 
 /* Host command */
@@ -127,9 +137,12 @@ uint8_t *host_get_memmap(int offset);
  * Process a host command and return its response
  *
  * @param args	        Command handler args
- * @return resulting status
+ * @return resulting status. Note that while this returns an ec_status enum, we
+ * are intentionally specifying the return type as a uint16_t, to prevent issues
+ * related to compiler optimizations affecting the range of values returnable
+ * from this function.
  */
-enum ec_status host_command_process(struct host_cmd_handler_args *args);
+uint16_t host_command_process(struct host_cmd_handler_args *args);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_HOSTCMD_EVENTS
 /**