diff --git a/runtime/errors.go b/runtime/errors.go
index 41d54ef916a..ad945788dc6 100644
--- a/runtime/errors.go
+++ b/runtime/errors.go
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ func HTTPStatusFromCode(code codes.Code) int {
 	case codes.ResourceExhausted:
 		return http.StatusTooManyRequests
 	case codes.FailedPrecondition:
-		return http.StatusPreconditionFailed
+		// Note, this deliberately doesn't translate to the similarly named '412 Precondition Failed' HTTP response status.
+		return http.StatusBadRequest
 	case codes.Aborted:
 		return http.StatusConflict
 	case codes.OutOfRange:
diff --git a/runtime/errors_test.go b/runtime/errors_test.go
index f595375718e..6d684d4ed89 100644
--- a/runtime/errors_test.go
+++ b/runtime/errors_test.go
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ func TestDefaultHTTPError(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 		{
 			err:     statusWithDetails.Err(),
-			status:  http.StatusPreconditionFailed,
+			status:  http.StatusBadRequest,
 			msg:     "failed precondition",
 			details: "type.googleapis.com/google.rpc.PreconditionFailure",
 		},