diff --git a/lib/_http_client.js b/lib/_http_client.js
index 5b568628006d68..bdda708493adba 100644
--- a/lib/_http_client.js
+++ b/lib/_http_client.js
@@ -41,33 +41,7 @@ const { outHeadersKey } = require('internal/http');
 const { nextTick } = require('internal/process/next_tick');
 const errors = require('internal/errors');
 
-// The actual list of disallowed characters in regexp form is more like:
-//    /[^A-Za-z0-9\-._~!$&'()*+,;=/:@]/
-// with an additional rule for ignoring percentage-escaped characters, but
-// that's a) hard to capture in a regular expression that performs well, and
-// b) possibly too restrictive for real-world usage. So instead we restrict the
-// filter to just control characters and spaces.
-//
-// This function is used in the case of small paths, where manual character code
-// checks can greatly outperform the equivalent regexp (tested in V8 5.4).
-function isInvalidPath(s) {
-  var i = 0;
-  if (s.charCodeAt(0) <= 32) return true;
-  if (++i >= s.length) return false;
-  if (s.charCodeAt(1) <= 32) return true;
-  if (++i >= s.length) return false;
-  if (s.charCodeAt(2) <= 32) return true;
-  if (++i >= s.length) return false;
-  if (s.charCodeAt(3) <= 32) return true;
-  if (++i >= s.length) return false;
-  if (s.charCodeAt(4) <= 32) return true;
-  if (++i >= s.length) return false;
-  if (s.charCodeAt(5) <= 32) return true;
-  ++i;
-  for (; i < s.length; ++i)
-    if (s.charCodeAt(i) <= 32) return true;
-  return false;
-}
+const INVALID_PATH_REGEX = /[^\u0021-\u00ff]/;
 
 function validateHost(host, name) {
   if (host != null && typeof host !== 'string') {
@@ -117,13 +91,7 @@ function ClientRequest(options, cb) {
   var path;
   if (options.path) {
     path = String(options.path);
-    var invalidPath;
-    if (path.length <= 39) { // Determined experimentally in V8 5.4
-      invalidPath = isInvalidPath(path);
-    } else {
-      invalidPath = /[\u0000-\u0020]/.test(path);
-    }
-    if (invalidPath)
+    if (INVALID_PATH_REGEX.test(path))
       throw new errors.TypeError('ERR_UNESCAPED_CHARACTERS', 'Request path');
   }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-client-invalid-path.js b/test/parallel/test-http-client-invalid-path.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..c042d61eda0999
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-client-invalid-path.js
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const http = require('http');
+
+common.expectsError(() => {
+  http.request({
+    path: '/thisisinvalid\uffe2'
+  }).end();
+}, {
+  code: 'ERR_UNESCAPED_CHARACTERS',
+  type: TypeError
+});