diff --git a/matlab/TCV_IMAS/tcv2ids.m b/matlab/TCV_IMAS/tcv2ids.m
index 9e034a8ac3b4a37940436a49331fbdca5798c347..1cc251db60233ab8ab9fbe5073163b1d93e268e6 100644
--- a/matlab/TCV_IMAS/tcv2ids.m
+++ b/matlab/TCV_IMAS/tcv2ids.m
@@ -30,9 +30,13 @@ function [ids_from_tcv,varargout] = tcv2ids(shot,varargin);
 %
 
 imas_version_number=getenv('IMAS_VERSION');
-cocos_out_default=11;
-if str2num(imas_version_number(1)) >= 4
-    cocos_out_default=17;
+cocos_out_default=17;
+try
+    if str2num(imas_version_number(1)) < 4
+        cocos_out_default=11;
+    end
+catch
+    warning('IMAS_VERSION undefined, assuming cocos_out=17');
 end
 
 % initialize input parser