diff --git a/client/client.go b/client/client.go
index 0b496b0fa6..36326c0f1a 100644
--- a/client/client.go
+++ b/client/client.go
@@ -307,7 +307,11 @@ func (cli *Client) ClientVersion() string {
 // added (1.24).
 func (cli *Client) NegotiateAPIVersion(ctx context.Context) {
 	if !cli.manualOverride {
-		ping, _ := cli.Ping(ctx)
+		ping, err := cli.Ping(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			// FIXME(thaJeztah): Ping returns an error when failing to connect to the API; we should not swallow the error here, and instead returning it.
+			return
+		}
 		cli.negotiateAPIVersionPing(ping)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/client/client_test.go b/client/client_test.go
index 5e76f03d86..b72c95cc97 100644
--- a/client/client_test.go
+++ b/client/client_test.go
@@ -354,6 +354,19 @@ func TestNegotiateAPVersionOverride(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, client.ClientVersion(), expected)
 }
 
+// TestNegotiateAPVersionConnectionFailure asserts that we do not modify the
+// API version when failing to connect.
+func TestNegotiateAPVersionConnectionFailure(t *testing.T) {
+	const expected = "9.99"
+
+	client, err := NewClientWithOpts(WithHost("unix:///no-such-socket"))
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	client.version = expected
+	client.NegotiateAPIVersion(context.Background())
+	assert.Equal(t, client.ClientVersion(), expected)
+}
+
 func TestNegotiateAPIVersionAutomatic(t *testing.T) {
 	var pingVersion string
 	httpClient := newMockClient(func(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
diff --git a/client/ping.go b/client/ping.go
index dfd1042fab..bf3e9b1cd6 100644
--- a/client/ping.go
+++ b/client/ping.go
@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ import (
 // Ping pings the server and returns the value of the "Docker-Experimental",
 // "Builder-Version", "OS-Type" & "API-Version" headers. It attempts to use
 // a HEAD request on the endpoint, but falls back to GET if HEAD is not supported
-// by the daemon.
+// by the daemon. It ignores internal server errors returned by the API, which
+// may be returned if the daemon is in an unhealthy state, but returns errors
+// for other non-success status codes, failing to connect to the API, or failing
+// to parse the API response.
 func (cli *Client) Ping(ctx context.Context) (types.Ping, error) {
 	var ping types.Ping