diff --git a/media/js/jquery.dataTables.js b/media/js/jquery.dataTables.js
index 3795f1b5..9c64c8b3 100644
--- a/media/js/jquery.dataTables.js
+++ b/media/js/jquery.dataTables.js
@@ -11337,7 +11337,9 @@
 		 */
 		"string-pre": function ( a )
 		{
-			if ( typeof a != 'string' ) { a = ''; }
+			if ( typeof a != 'string' ) {
+				a = (a !== null && a.toString) ? a.toString() : '';
+			}
 			return a.toLowerCase();
 		},
 	
diff --git a/media/src/ext/ext.sorting.js b/media/src/ext/ext.sorting.js
index 44382579..93ab015b 100644
--- a/media/src/ext/ext.sorting.js
+++ b/media/src/ext/ext.sorting.js
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ $.extend( DataTable.ext.oSort, {
 	 */
 	"string-pre": function ( a )
 	{
-		if ( typeof a != 'string' ) { a = ''; }
+		if ( typeof a != 'string' ) {
+			a = (a !== null && a.toString) ? a.toString() : '';
+		}
 		return a.toLowerCase();
 	},
 
diff --git a/media/unit_testing/tests_onhold/2_js/8549--string-sorting-nonstrings.js b/media/unit_testing/tests_onhold/2_js/8549--string-sorting-nonstrings.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..57ffebc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/media/unit_testing/tests_onhold/2_js/8549--string-sorting-nonstrings.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+// DATA_TEMPLATE: empty_table
+oTest.fnStart( "8549 - string sorting non-string types" );
+
+$(document).ready( function () {
+	var test = false;
+
+	$.fn.dataTable.ext.sErrMode = "throw";
+
+
+
+	/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
+	 * Shallow properties
+	 */
+	
+	$('#example').dataTable( {
+		"aaData": [
+			[ null ],
+			[ 5 ],
+			[ "1a" ],
+			[ new Date(0) ]
+		],
+		"aoColumns": [
+			{ "sTitle": "Test" }
+		]
+	} );
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"Sorting works - first cell is empty",
+		null,
+		function () { return $('#example tbody tr:eq(0) td:eq(0)').html() === ""; }
+	);
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"Second cell is 1a",
+		null,
+		function () { return $('#example tbody tr:eq(1) td:eq(0)').html() === "1a"; }
+	);
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"Third cell is 5",
+		null,
+		function () { return $('#example tbody tr:eq(2) td:eq(0)').html() === "5"; }
+	);
+	
+	
+	oTest.fnComplete();
+} );
\ No newline at end of file