diff --git a/Create.c b/Create.c
index 9058af1..c9c64b8 100644
--- a/Create.c
+++ b/Create.c
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ int Create(struct supertype *st, char *mddev, int mdfd,
 	struct mdinfo *sra;
 	struct mdinfo info, *infos;
 	int did_default = 0;
+	unsigned long safe_mode_delay = 0;
 
 	int major_num = BITMAP_MAJOR_HI;
 
@@ -703,6 +704,7 @@ int Create(struct supertype *st, char *mddev, int mdfd,
 				st->ss->add_to_super(st, &inf->disk,
 						     fd, dv->devname);
 				st->ss->getinfo_super(st, inf);
+				safe_mode_delay = inf->safe_mode_delay;
 
 				/* getinfo_super might have lost these ... */
 				inf->disk.major = major(stb.st_rdev);
@@ -757,6 +759,7 @@ int Create(struct supertype *st, char *mddev, int mdfd,
 					      "readonly");
 				break;
 			}
+			sysfs_set_safemode(sra, safe_mode_delay);
 		} else {
 			mdu_param_t param;
 			if (ioctl(mdfd, RUN_ARRAY, &param)) {
diff --git a/Incremental.c b/Incremental.c
index 9b22220..6f21a63 100644
--- a/Incremental.c
+++ b/Incremental.c
@@ -841,6 +841,7 @@ int Incremental_container(struct supertype *st, char *devname, int verbose,
 				ping_monitor(devnum2devname(st->container_dev));
 				break;
 			}
+			sysfs_set_safemode(sra, ra->safe_mode_delay);
 			if (verbose >= 0)
 				printf("Started %s with %d devices\n",
 				       chosen_name, working);
diff --git a/mdadm.h b/mdadm.h
index 3d31576..3eee61a 100644
--- a/mdadm.h
+++ b/mdadm.h
@@ -346,6 +346,7 @@ extern int sysfs_set_num(struct mdinfo *sra, struct mdinfo *dev,
 			 char *name, unsigned long long val);
 extern int sysfs_get_ll(struct mdinfo *sra, struct mdinfo *dev,
 			char *name, unsigned long long *val);
+extern int sysfs_set_safemode(struct mdinfo *sra, unsigned long ms);
 extern int sysfs_set_array(struct mdinfo *sra,
 			   struct mdinfo *info);
 extern int sysfs_add_disk(struct mdinfo *sra, struct mdinfo *sd);
diff --git a/sysfs.c b/sysfs.c
index 7ca40c3..dced322 100644
--- a/sysfs.c
+++ b/sysfs.c
@@ -346,6 +346,19 @@ int sysfs_get_ll(struct mdinfo *sra, struct mdinfo *dev,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+int sysfs_set_safemode(struct mdinfo *sra, unsigned long ms)
+{
+	unsigned long sec;
+	unsigned long msec;
+	char delay[30];
+
+	sec = ms / 1000;
+	msec = ms - (sec * 1000);
+
+	sprintf(delay, "%ld.%ld", sec, msec);
+	return sysfs_set_str(sra, NULL, "safe_mode_delay", delay);
+}
+
 int sysfs_set_array(struct mdinfo *sra,
 		    struct mdinfo *info)
 {