diff --git a/lib/request_errors.rb b/lib/request_errors.rb
index 39beaa2..cf84d5a 100644
--- a/lib/request_errors.rb
+++ b/lib/request_errors.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-require 'rexml/document'
-
 module RestClient
 	# This is the base RestClient exception class. Rescue it if you want to
 	# catch any exception that your request might raise
@@ -59,14 +57,8 @@ module RestClient
 			@response.code.to_i if @response
 		end
 
-		def message(default="Unknown error, HTTP status code #{http_code}")
-			return default unless @response
-			parse_error_xml rescue default
-		end
-
-		def parse_error_xml
-			xml_errors = REXML::Document.new(@response.body).elements.to_a("//errors/error")
-			xml_errors.empty? ? raise : xml_errors.map { |a| a.text }.join(" / ")
+		def message
+			"HTTP status code #{http_code}"
 		end
 
 		def to_s
diff --git a/spec/request_errors_spec.rb b/spec/request_errors_spec.rb
index b9391c3..7cc640e 100644
--- a/spec/request_errors_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/request_errors_spec.rb
@@ -12,28 +12,20 @@ describe RestClient::Exception do
 end
 
 describe RestClient::RequestFailed do
-	before do
-		@error = RestClient::RequestFailed.new
+	it "stores the http response on the exception" do
+		begin
+			raise RestClient::RequestFailed, :response
+		rescue RestClient::RequestFailed => e
+			e.response.should == :response
+		end
 	end
 
-	it "extracts the error message from xml" do
-		@error.response = mock('response', :code => '422', :body => '<errors><error>Error 1</error><error>Error 2</error></errors>')
-		@error.message.should == 'Error 1 / Error 2'
+	it "http_code convenience method for fetching the code as an integer" do
+		RestClient::RequestFailed.new(mock('res', :code => '502')).http_code.should == 502
 	end
 
-	it "ignores responses without xml since they might contain sensitive data" do
-		@error.response = mock('response', :code => '500', :body => 'Syntax error in SQL query: SELECT * FROM ...')
-		@error.message.should == 'Unknown error, HTTP status code 500'
-	end
-
-	it "accepts a default error message" do
-		@error.response = mock('response', :code => '500', :body => 'Internal Server Error')
-		@error.message('Custom default message').should == 'Custom default message'
-	end
-
-	it "doesn't show the default error message when there's something in the xml" do
-		@error.response = mock('response', :code => '422', :body => '<errors><error>Specific error message</error></errors>')
-		@error.message('Custom default message').should == 'Specific error message'
+	it "shows the status code in the message" do
+		RestClient::RequestFailed.new(mock('res', :code => '502')).to_s.should match(/502/)
 	end
 end