diff --git a/tests/PHPUnit_Smarty.php b/tests/PHPUnit_Smarty.php
index 6edcff18..776d5815 100644
--- a/tests/PHPUnit_Smarty.php
+++ b/tests/PHPUnit_Smarty.php
@@ -177,7 +177,6 @@ class PHPUnit_Smarty extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
                 $this->smartyBC->setCacheDir(dirname(__FILE__) . '/cache');
             }
         }
-        $smarty = $this->getSmartyObj();
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/UnitTests/TemplateSource/TagTests/PluginModifier/PluginModifierDefaultTest.php b/tests/UnitTests/TemplateSource/TagTests/PluginModifier/PluginModifierDefaultTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..099afa29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/UnitTests/TemplateSource/TagTests/PluginModifier/PluginModifierDefaultTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Smarty PHPunit tests of modifier
+ *
+ * @package PHPunit
+ */
+
+/**
+ * class for modifier tests
+ */
+class PluginModifierDefaultTest extends PHPUnit_Smarty
+{
+	public function setUp()
+	{
+		$this->setUpSmarty(dirname(__FILE__));
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @dataProvider        dataTestSimpleVars
+	 */
+	public function testSimpleVars($template, $expected)
+	{
+		$tpl = $this->smarty->createTemplate($template);
+		$this->smarty->assign('s', 'v0');
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, $this->smarty->fetch($tpl));
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Generates test data for ::testSimpleVars
+	 */
+	public function dataTestSimpleVars() {
+		return array(
+			array('string:{$s|default:"B"}', 'v0'),       // simple set variable
+			array('string:{$u|default:"B"}', 'B'),       // simple unset variable
+		);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @dataProvider        dataTestSimpleVarsNoDefaultValue
+	 */
+	public function testSimpleVarsNoDefaultValue($template, $expected)
+	{
+		$tpl = $this->smarty->createTemplate($template);
+		$this->smarty->assign('s', 'v0');
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, $this->smarty->fetch($tpl));
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Generates test data for ::testSimpleVarsNoDefaultValue
+	 */
+	public function dataTestSimpleVarsNoDefaultValue() {
+		return array(
+			array('string:{$s|default}', 'v0'),       // simple set variable
+			array('string:{$u|default}', ''),       // simple unset variable
+		);
+	}
+
+	public function testEmptyString()
+	{
+		$tpl = $this->smarty->createTemplate('string:{$s|default:"B"}');
+		$this->smarty->assign('s', '');
+		$this->assertEquals('B', $this->smarty->fetch($tpl));
+	}
+
+	public function testNull()
+	{
+		$tpl = $this->smarty->createTemplate('string:{$s|default:"B"}');
+		$this->smarty->assign('s', null);
+		$this->assertEquals('B', $this->smarty->fetch($tpl));
+	}
+
+	public function testFalse()
+	{
+		$tpl = $this->smarty->createTemplate('string:{$s|default:"B"}');
+		$this->smarty->assign('s', false);
+		$this->assertEquals('B', $this->smarty->fetch($tpl));
+	}
+
+	public function testFunctionCall()
+	{
+		$tpl = $this->smarty->createTemplate('string:{strlen("a")|default:"B"}');
+		$this->assertEquals('1', $this->smarty->fetch($tpl));
+	}
+
+	public function testFunctionCallEmptyString()
+	{
+		$tpl = $this->smarty->createTemplate('string:{trim("")|default:"B"}');
+		$this->assertEquals('B', $this->smarty->fetch($tpl));
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @dataProvider        dataTestArrayObjectCombinations
+	 */
+	public function testArrayObjectCombinations($template, $expected)
+	{
+		$tpl = $this->smarty->createTemplate($template);
+		$this->smarty->assign('a', array(
+			'k' => (object) array ('v' => 'v3'),
+			'v' => 'v1'
+		));
+		$this->smarty->assign('o', (object) array (
+			'p' => array('v' => 'v4'),
+			'v' => 'v2'
+		));
+		$this->assertEquals($expected, $this->smarty->fetch($tpl));
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Generates test data for ::testArrayObjectCombinations
+	 */
+	public function dataTestArrayObjectCombinations() {
+		return array(
+			array('string:{$a.v|default:"B"}', 'v1'),     // array key set
+			array('string:{$o->v|default:"B"}', 'v2'),    // object property set
+			array('string:{$a.k->v|default:"B"}', 'v3'),  // complex combi of array and key access
+			array('string:{$o->p.v|default:"B"}', 'v4'),  // complex combi of array and key access
+
+			array('string:{$a.c|default:"B"}', 'B'),     // array key not set
+			array('string:{$u.c|default:"B"}', 'B'),     // array not set, referencing key
+			array('string:{$o->u|default:"B"}', 'B'),    // object property not set
+			array('string:{$u->u|default:"B"}', 'B'),    // object not set
+			array('string:{$a.k->u|default:"B"}', 'B'),  // complex combi of array and key access with something unset
+			array('string:{$a.u->u|default:"B"}', 'B'),  // complex combi of array and key access with something unset
+			array('string:{$o->p.u|default:"B"}', 'B'),  // complex combi of array and key access with something unset
+			array('string:{$o->u.u|default:"B"}', 'B'),  // complex combi of array and key access with something unset
+
+		);
+	}
+
+
+
+}