diff --git a/diff_drive_controller/src/diff_drive_controller.cpp b/diff_drive_controller/src/diff_drive_controller.cpp
index a93d3d3812..7c3c9864d2 100644
--- a/diff_drive_controller/src/diff_drive_controller.cpp
+++ b/diff_drive_controller/src/diff_drive_controller.cpp
@@ -375,13 +375,14 @@ controller_interface::CallbackReturn DiffDriveController::on_configure(
       tf_prefix = std::string(get_node()->get_namespace());
     }
 
-    if (tf_prefix == "/")
+    // Make sure prefix does not start with '/' and always ends with '/'
+    if (tf_prefix.back() != '/')
     {
-      tf_prefix = "";
+      tf_prefix = tf_prefix + "/";
     }
-    else
+    if (tf_prefix.front() == '/')
     {
-      tf_prefix = tf_prefix + "/";
+      tf_prefix.erase(0, 1);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/diff_drive_controller/test/test_diff_drive_controller.cpp b/diff_drive_controller/test/test_diff_drive_controller.cpp
index e29c6bbfee..a984c5a5c3 100644
--- a/diff_drive_controller/test/test_diff_drive_controller.cpp
+++ b/diff_drive_controller/test/test_diff_drive_controller.cpp
@@ -392,7 +392,6 @@ TEST_F(TestDiffDriveController, configure_succeeds_tf_test_prefix_true_set_names
 TEST_F(TestDiffDriveController, configure_succeeds_tf_blank_prefix_true_set_namespace)
 {
   std::string test_namespace = "/test_namespace";
-
   std::string odom_id = "odom";
   std::string base_link_id = "base_link";
   std::string frame_prefix = "";
@@ -412,10 +411,11 @@ TEST_F(TestDiffDriveController, configure_succeeds_tf_blank_prefix_true_set_name
   auto odometry_message = controller_->get_rt_odom_publisher()->msg_;
   std::string test_odom_frame_id = odometry_message.header.frame_id;
   std::string test_base_frame_id = odometry_message.child_frame_id;
+  std::string ns_prefix = test_namespace.erase(0, 1) + "/";
   /* tf_frame_prefix_enable is true but frame_prefix is blank so namespace should be appended to the
    * frame id's */
-  ASSERT_EQ(test_odom_frame_id, test_namespace + "/" + odom_id);
-  ASSERT_EQ(test_base_frame_id, test_namespace + "/" + base_link_id);
+  ASSERT_EQ(test_odom_frame_id, ns_prefix + odom_id);
+  ASSERT_EQ(test_base_frame_id, ns_prefix + base_link_id);
 }
 
 TEST_F(TestDiffDriveController, activate_fails_without_resources_assigned)