diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveriesCollection.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveriesCollection.java
index 6df9d94acafd3..cac4a57b979cf 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveriesCollection.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveriesCollection.java
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ public static class StatusRef implements AutoCloseable {
          */
         public StatusRef(RecoveryStatus status) {
             this.status = status;
+            this.status.setLastAccessTime();
         }
 
         @Override
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/recovery/RecoveriesCollectionTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/recovery/RecoveriesCollectionTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..dc54e164db4ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/recovery/RecoveriesCollectionTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you 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.
+ */
+package org.elasticsearch.recovery;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.Version;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.transport.DummyTransportAddress;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.recovery.RecoveriesCollection;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.recovery.RecoveryFailedException;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.recovery.RecoveryState;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.recovery.RecoveryTarget;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchSingleNodeTest;
+import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThan;
+
+public class RecoveriesCollectionTests extends ElasticsearchSingleNodeTest {
+
+    final static RecoveryTarget.RecoveryListener listener = new RecoveryTarget.RecoveryListener() {
+        @Override
+        public void onRecoveryDone(RecoveryState state) {
+
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void onRecoveryFailure(RecoveryState state, RecoveryFailedException e, boolean sendShardFailure) {
+
+        }
+    };
+
+    @Test
+    public void testLastAccessTimeUpdate() throws Exception {
+        createIndex("test",
+                ImmutableSettings.builder()
+                        .put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 1, IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS, 0)
+                        .build());
+        ensureGreen();
+        final RecoveriesCollection collection = new RecoveriesCollection(logger, getInstanceFromNode(ThreadPool.class));
+        final long recoveryId = startRecovery(collection);
+        try (RecoveriesCollection.StatusRef status = collection.getStatus(recoveryId)) {
+            final long lastSeenTime = status.status().lastAccessTime();
+            assertBusy(new Runnable() {
+                @Override
+                public void run() {
+                    try (RecoveriesCollection.StatusRef currentStatus = collection.getStatus(recoveryId)) {
+                        assertThat("access time failed to update", lastSeenTime, lessThan(currentStatus.status().lastAccessTime()));
+                    }
+                }
+            });
+        } finally {
+            collection.cancelRecovery(recoveryId, "life");
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testRecoveryTimeout() throws InterruptedException {
+        createIndex("test",
+                ImmutableSettings.builder()
+                        .put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 1, IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS, 0)
+                        .build());
+        ensureGreen();
+        final RecoveriesCollection collection = new RecoveriesCollection(logger, getInstanceFromNode(ThreadPool.class));
+        final AtomicBoolean failed = new AtomicBoolean();
+        final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        final long recoveryId = startRecovery(collection, new RecoveryTarget.RecoveryListener() {
+            @Override
+            public void onRecoveryDone(RecoveryState state) {
+                latch.countDown();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void onRecoveryFailure(RecoveryState state, RecoveryFailedException e, boolean sendShardFailure) {
+                failed.set(true);
+                latch.countDown();
+            }
+        }, TimeValue.timeValueMillis(100));
+        try {
+            latch.await(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+            assertTrue("recovery failed to timeout", failed.get());
+        } finally {
+            collection.cancelRecovery(recoveryId, "meh");
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    long startRecovery(RecoveriesCollection collection) {
+        return startRecovery(collection, listener, TimeValue.timeValueMinutes(60));
+    }
+
+    long startRecovery(RecoveriesCollection collection, RecoveryTarget.RecoveryListener listener, TimeValue timeValue) {
+        IndicesService indexServices = getInstanceFromNode(IndicesService.class);
+        IndexShard indexShard = indexServices.indexServiceSafe("test").shard(0);
+        return collection.startRecovery(
+                indexShard, new DiscoveryNode("id", DummyTransportAddress.INSTANCE, Version.CURRENT),
+                new RecoveryState(indexShard.shardId()), listener, timeValue);
+    }
+
+}