diff --git a/djangorestframework/response.py b/djangorestframework/response.py
index ea9a938c6..0f12e99c1 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/response.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/response.py
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ class Response(SimpleTemplateResponse):
             return [request.GET.get(self._ACCEPT_QUERY_PARAM)]
         elif (self._IGNORE_IE_ACCEPT_HEADER and
               'HTTP_USER_AGENT' in request.META and
-              MSIE_USER_AGENT_REGEX.match(request.META['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])):
+              MSIE_USER_AGENT_REGEX.match(request.META['HTTP_USER_AGENT']) and
+              request.META.get('HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH', '') != 'XMLHttpRequest'):
             # Ignore MSIE's broken accept behavior and do something sensible instead
             return ['text/html', '*/*']
         elif 'HTTP_ACCEPT' in request.META:
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/accept.py b/djangorestframework/tests/accept.py
index 933854938..69bca707b 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/accept.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/accept.py
@@ -53,7 +53,18 @@ class UserAgentMungingTest(TestCase):
             resp = self.view(req)
             resp.render()
             self.assertEqual(resp['Content-Type'], 'text/html')
-    
+
+    def test_dont_munge_msie_with_x_requested_with_header(self):
+        """Send MSIE user agent strings, and an X-Requested-With header, and 
+        ensure that we get a JSON response if we set a */* Accept header."""
+        for user_agent in (MSIE_9_USER_AGENT,
+                           MSIE_8_USER_AGENT,
+                           MSIE_7_USER_AGENT):
+            req = self.req.get('/', HTTP_ACCEPT='*/*', HTTP_USER_AGENT=user_agent, HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH='XMLHttpRequest')
+            resp = self.view(req)
+            resp.render()
+            self.assertEqual(resp['Content-Type'], 'application/json')
+
     def test_dont_rewrite_msie_accept_header(self):
         """Turn off _IGNORE_IE_ACCEPT_HEADER, send MSIE user agent strings and ensure
         that we get a JSON response if we set a */* accept header."""