diff --git a/src/flag-definitions.h b/src/flag-definitions.h
index 8e77ac809e..cc153af254 100644
--- a/src/flag-definitions.h
+++ b/src/flag-definitions.h
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ DEFINE_bool(debugger_auto_break, true,
             "automatically set the debug break flag when debugger commands are "
             "in the queue")
 DEFINE_bool(enable_liveedit, true, "enable liveedit experimental feature")
-DEFINE_bool(break_on_abort, false, "always cause a debug break before aborting")
+DEFINE_bool(break_on_abort, true, "always cause a debug break before aborting")
 
 // execution.cc
 // Slightly less than 1MB on 64-bit, since Windows' default stack size for
diff --git a/src/platform-posix.cc b/src/platform-posix.cc
index 69303bfd80..fe27eaf71f 100644
--- a/src/platform-posix.cc
+++ b/src/platform-posix.cc
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ void OS::Abort() {
   if (FLAG_break_on_abort) {
     DebugBreak();
   }
-  V8_IMMEDIATE_CRASH();
+  abort();
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/platform-win32.cc b/src/platform-win32.cc
index 7a90920a88..073b21a011 100644
--- a/src/platform-win32.cc
+++ b/src/platform-win32.cc
@@ -872,8 +872,10 @@ void OS::Sleep(int milliseconds) {
 void OS::Abort() {
   if (IsDebuggerPresent() || FLAG_break_on_abort) {
     DebugBreak();
+  } else {
+    // Make the MSVCRT do a silent abort.
+    raise(SIGABRT);
   }
-  V8_IMMEDIATE_CRASH();
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/platform.h b/src/platform.h
index 13c126bf42..aa50cb4c72 100644
--- a/src/platform.h
+++ b/src/platform.h
@@ -51,13 +51,6 @@
 #include "utils.h"
 #include "v8globals.h"
 
-// This is lined up with blink's method of crashing.
-#if defined(__GNUC__)
-#define V8_IMMEDIATE_CRASH() __builtin_trap()
-#else
-#define V8_IMMEDIATE_CRASH() ((void(*)())0)()
-#endif
-
 #ifdef __sun
 # ifndef signbit
 namespace std {