diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..9167567bb04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2015 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This script is intended to be run periodically, to check the health
+# of docker.  If it detects a failure, it will restart docker using systemctl.
+
+if timeout 10 docker version > /dev/null; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "docker failed"
+echo "Giving docker 30 seconds grace before restarting"
+sleep 30
+
+if timeout 10 docker version > /dev/null; then
+  echo "docker recovered"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "docker still down; triggering docker restart"
+systemctl restart docker
+
+echo "Waiting 60 seconds to give docker time to start"
+sleep 60
+
+if timeout 10 docker version > /dev/null; then
+  echo "docker recovered"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "docker still failing"
diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck.service b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck.service
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b4ecfaf8f72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck.service
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Run docker-healthcheck once
+
+[Service]
+Type=oneshot
+ExecStart=/opt/kubernetes/helpers/docker-healthcheck
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck.timer b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck.timer
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3d252e4464e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/docker-healthcheck.timer
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Trigger docker-healthcheck periodically
+
+[Timer]
+OnUnitInactiveSec=10s
+Unit=docker-healthcheck.service
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/init.sls b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/init.sls
index 2de683a42a0..9abc97e8693 100644
--- a/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/init.sls
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/docker/init.sls
@@ -338,6 +338,45 @@ fix-service-docker:
       - cmd: docker-upgrade
 {% endif %}
 
+/opt/kubernetes/helpers/docker-healthcheck:
+  file.managed:
+    - source: salt://docker/docker-healthcheck
+    - user: root
+    - group: root
+    - mode: 755
+
+{{ pillar.get('systemd_system_path') }}/docker-healthcheck.service:
+  file.managed:
+    - source: salt://docker/docker-healthcheck.service
+    - template: jinja
+    - user: root
+    - group: root
+    - mode: 644
+
+{{ pillar.get('systemd_system_path') }}/docker-healthcheck.timer:
+  file.managed:
+    - source: salt://docker/docker-healthcheck.timer
+    - template: jinja
+    - user: root
+    - group: root
+    - mode: 644
+
+# Tell systemd to load the timer
+fix-systemd-docker-healthcheck-timer:
+  cmd.wait:
+    - name: /opt/kubernetes/helpers/services bounce docker-healthcheck.timer
+    - watch:
+      - file: {{ pillar.get('systemd_system_path') }}/docker-healthcheck.timer
+
+# Trigger a first run of docker-healthcheck; needed because the timer fires 10s after the previous run.
+fix-systemd-docker-healthcheck-service:
+  cmd.wait:
+    - name: /opt/kubernetes/helpers/services bounce docker-healthcheck.service
+    - watch:
+      - file: {{ pillar.get('systemd_system_path') }}/docker-healthcheck.service
+    - require:
+      - cmd: fix-service-docker
+
 {% endif %}
 
 docker: