diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 199a816..9ed34dd 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ emacs-macros = { path = "emacs-macros", version = "0.17.0" }
 rustc_version = "0.2.3"
 
 [features]
-default = []
+default = [ "utf-8-validation" ]
 utf-8-validation = []
 lossy-integer-conversion = []
 nonzero-integer-conversion = []
diff --git a/guide/src/type-conversions.md b/guide/src/type-conversions.md
index d7bf859..8538f29 100644
--- a/guide/src/type-conversions.md
+++ b/guide/src/type-conversions.md
@@ -57,11 +57,11 @@ features = ["nonzero-integer-conversion"]
 
 ## Strings
 
-By default, no utf-8 validation is done when converting Lisp strings into Rust strings, because the string data returned by Emacs is guaranteed to be valid utf-8 sequence. If you think you've otherwise encountered an Emacs bug, utf-8 validation can be enabled through a feature:
+By default, utf-8 validation is enabled when converting Lisp strings into Rust strings, because the string data returned by Emacs is not guaranteed to be valid utf-8 sequence. If you require additional performance and don't care about possible undefined behavior and crashes, utf-8 validation can be disabled through a feature `utf-8-validation`:
 
 ```toml
 [dependencies.emacs]
-features = ["utf-8-validation"]
+default-features = false
 ```
 
 ## Vectors
diff --git a/src/types/string.rs b/src/types/string.rs
index 5c1099c..7808b69 100644
--- a/src/types/string.rs
+++ b/src/types/string.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ impl FromLisp<'_> for String {
     #[cfg(feature = "utf-8-validation")]
     fn from_lisp(value: Value<'_>) -> Result<Self> {
         let bytes = value.env.string_bytes(value)?;
-        Ok(String::from_utf8(bytes).unwrap())
+        String::from_utf8(bytes).map_err(|e| e.into())
     }
 }