diff --git a/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest5_client/Rest5ClientOptions.java b/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest5_client/Rest5ClientOptions.java
index 6f4f74529..7798fcd1d 100644
--- a/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest5_client/Rest5ClientOptions.java
+++ b/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest5_client/Rest5ClientOptions.java
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public static Rest5ClientOptions of(@Nullable TransportOptions options) {
             return (Rest5ClientOptions) options;
         }
 
-        final Builder builder = new Builder(RequestOptions.DEFAULT.toBuilder());
+        final Builder builder = new Builder(SafeResponseConsumer.DEFAULT_REQUEST_OPTIONS.toBuilder());
         options.headers().forEach(h -> builder.addHeader(h.getKey(), h.getValue()));
         options.queryParameters().forEach(builder::setParameter);
         builder.onWarnings(options.onWarnings());
diff --git a/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest_client/RestClientOptions.java b/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest_client/RestClientOptions.java
index 431a9cbd4..a3b866d5b 100644
--- a/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest_client/RestClientOptions.java
+++ b/java-client/src/main/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest_client/RestClientOptions.java
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public static RestClientOptions of(@Nullable TransportOptions options) {
             return (RestClientOptions)options;
         }
 
-        final Builder builder = new Builder(RequestOptions.DEFAULT.toBuilder());
+        final Builder builder = new Builder(SafeResponseConsumer.DEFAULT_REQUEST_OPTIONS.toBuilder());
         options.headers().forEach(h -> builder.addHeader(h.getKey(), h.getValue()));
         options.queryParameters().forEach(builder::setParameter);
         builder.onWarnings(options.onWarnings());
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest5_client/Rest5ClientOptionsTest.java b/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest5_client/Rest5ClientOptionsTest.java
index 439acc08e..3228cfa7d 100644
--- a/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest5_client/Rest5ClientOptionsTest.java
+++ b/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest5_client/Rest5ClientOptionsTest.java
@@ -199,4 +199,17 @@ void testRequestOptionsOverridingBuiltin() throws Exception {
         // overriding user-agent is ok
         checkUserAgent(id, "FooBarAgent/1.0");
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void testConvertedOptionsUseSafeResponseConsumer() throws Exception {
+        // Transport options set on the client builder are converted from DefaultTransportOptions
+        try (ElasticsearchClient esClient = ElasticsearchClient.of(b -> b
+            .host("http://example.com")
+            .transportOptions(o -> o.addHeader("Foo", "bar"))
+        )) {
+            Rest5ClientOptions options = (Rest5ClientOptions) esClient._transportOptions();
+            assertSame(SafeResponseConsumer.DEFAULT_FACTORY,
+                options.restClientRequestOptions().getHttpAsyncResponseConsumerFactory());
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest_client/RestClientOptionsTest.java b/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest_client/RestClientOptionsTest.java
index cf8995944..29f73cf98 100644
--- a/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest_client/RestClientOptionsTest.java
+++ b/java-client/src/test/java/co/elastic/clients/transport/rest_client/RestClientOptionsTest.java
@@ -199,4 +199,18 @@ void testRequestOptionsOverridingBuiltin() throws Exception {
         // overriding user-agent is ok
         checkUserAgent(id, "FooBarAgent/1.0");
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void testConvertedOptionsUseSafeResponseConsumer() throws Exception {
+        // Transport options set on the client builder are converted from DefaultTransportOptions
+        try (ElasticsearchClient esClient = ElasticsearchClient.of(b -> b
+            .host("http://example.com")
+            .useLegacyTransport(true)
+            .transportOptions(o -> o.addHeader("Foo", "bar"))
+        )) {
+            RestClientOptions options = (RestClientOptions) esClient._transportOptions();
+            assertSame(SafeResponseConsumer.DEFAULT_FACTORY,
+                options.restClientRequestOptions().getHttpAsyncResponseConsumerFactory());
+        }
+    }
 }