diff --git a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-bcm-iproc.c b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-bcm-iproc.c
index b5629cffe99b..86ca4c2221c4 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-bcm-iproc.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-bcm-iproc.c
@@ -803,6 +803,17 @@ static int bcm_iproc_i2c_xfer_wait(struct bcm_iproc_i2c_dev *iproc_i2c,
 	}
 
 	if (!time_left && !iproc_i2c->xfer_is_done) {
+		/*
+		 * The controller may fail to clear START_BUSY after a timeout,
+		 * reset the controller to recover in that case.
+		 */
+		if (!!(iproc_i2c_rd_reg(iproc_i2c, M_CMD_OFFSET) &
+		       BIT(M_CMD_START_BUSY_SHIFT))) {
+			bcm_iproc_i2c_enable_disable(iproc_i2c, false);
+			bcm_iproc_i2c_init(iproc_i2c);
+			bcm_iproc_i2c_enable_disable(iproc_i2c, true);
+		}
+
 		/* flush both TX/RX FIFOs */
 		val = BIT(M_FIFO_RX_FLUSH_SHIFT) | BIT(M_FIFO_TX_FLUSH_SHIFT);
 		iproc_i2c_wr_reg(iproc_i2c, M_FIFO_CTRL_OFFSET, val);