diff --git a/matlab/gdat.m b/matlab/gdat.m
index 99271c743677156ce27598a06bda6a42cf7e88a1..7a0458e83ee0020fa93af549af5442954a46faba 100644
--- a/matlab/gdat.m
+++ b/matlab/gdat.m
@@ -206,6 +206,14 @@ try
     % needed since some substructure have machine name like mapping_for
     gdat_data.gdat_params.machine = lower(gdat_data.gdat_params.machine);
   end
+  if ~isfield(gdat_data,'status')
+    if exist('error_status','var')
+      gdat_data.status = error_status;
+    else
+      error_status = 0;
+      gdat_data.status = error_status;
+    end
+  end
 
 catch ME_gdat
   warning(['problems calling gdat_' lower(machine_eff)]);