diff --git a/templates/al2/runtime/bootstrap.sh b/templates/al2/runtime/bootstrap.sh
index 377251074..673e76e51 100755
--- a/templates/al2/runtime/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/templates/al2/runtime/bootstrap.sh
@@ -647,4 +647,9 @@ systemctl daemon-reload
 systemctl enable kubelet
 systemctl start kubelet
 
+if ! systemctl is-active --quiet kubelet; then
+  log "ERROR: kubelet failed to start"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 log "INFO: complete!"