1 files changed, 7 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/unicode.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/unicode.rb
index 0e9770af25..1f50773505 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/unicode.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/unicode.rb
@@ -1,9 +1,15 @@
 module ActiveSupport #:nodoc:
   module CoreExtensions #:nodoc:
     module String #:nodoc:
-      if RUBY_VERSION < '1.9'
+      unless '1.9'.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
         # Define methods for handling unicode data.
         module Unicode
+          def self.included(base)
+            if '1.8.7'.respond_to?(:chars)
+              base.class_eval { remove_method :chars }
+            end
+          end
+
           # +chars+ is a Unicode safe proxy for string methods. It creates and returns an instance of the
           # ActiveSupport::Multibyte::Chars class which encapsulates the original string. A Unicode safe version of all
           # the String methods are defined on this proxy class. Undefined methods are forwarded to String, so all of the