diff --git a/userspace/units/fifo/runlist/gk20a/nvgpu-runlist-gk20a.c b/userspace/units/fifo/runlist/gk20a/nvgpu-runlist-gk20a.c
index 49b68075f..54ba91621 100644
--- a/userspace/units/fifo/runlist/gk20a/nvgpu-runlist-gk20a.c
+++ b/userspace/units/fifo/runlist/gk20a/nvgpu-runlist-gk20a.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2019, NVIDIA CORPORATION.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2019-2020, NVIDIA CORPORATION.  All rights reserved.
  *
  * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
  * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include <unit/unit.h>
 
 #include <nvgpu/posix/io.h>
+#include <nvgpu/posix/posix-fault-injection.h>
 
 #include <nvgpu/channel.h>
 #include <nvgpu/tsg.h>
@@ -159,10 +160,17 @@ int test_gk20a_runlist_wait_pending(struct unit_module *m,
 	u32 runlist_id = nvgpu_engine_get_gr_runlist_id(g);
 	u32 timeout = g->poll_timeout_default;
 	int err;
+	struct nvgpu_posix_fault_inj *timer_fi =
+		nvgpu_timers_get_fault_injection();
 
 	(void)nvgpu_posix_register_io(g, &test_reg_callbacks);
 
-	/* nvgpu_timeout_init failure not covered yet */
+	/* nvgpu_timeout_init failure */
+	nvgpu_posix_enable_fault_injection(timer_fi, true, 0);
+	err = gk20a_runlist_wait_pending(g, runlist_id);
+	assert(err == -ETIMEDOUT);
+	nvgpu_posix_enable_fault_injection(timer_fi, false, 0);
+
 	g->poll_timeout_default = 10; /* ms */
 
 	ctx->m = m;
diff --git a/userspace/units/fifo/runlist/gk20a/nvgpu-runlist-gk20a.h b/userspace/units/fifo/runlist/gk20a/nvgpu-runlist-gk20a.h
index 037d1abda..eecd74f53 100644
--- a/userspace/units/fifo/runlist/gk20a/nvgpu-runlist-gk20a.h
+++ b/userspace/units/fifo/runlist/gk20a/nvgpu-runlist-gk20a.h
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ int test_gk20a_runlist_hw_submit(struct unit_module *m,
  * - Check case where polling times out:
  *   - Set register to indicate that runlist is pending.
  *   - Call gk20a_runlist_wait_pending.
+ * - Check case where nvgpu_timeout_init fails, using fault injection.
  *
  * Output: Returns PASS if all branches gave expected results. FAIL otherwise.
  */