diff --git a/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py b/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
index a0c6a0c844..275e336846 100755
--- a/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
+++ b/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import time
 import tempfile
 from collections import namedtuple
 from functools import partial
-from typing import Any
+from typing import Any, Dict
 
 import requests
 from jsonrpc import JSONRPCResponseManager, dispatcher
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ log_recv_queue: Any = queue.Queue()
 cancelled_uploads: Any = set()
 UploadItem = namedtuple('UploadItem', ['path', 'url', 'headers', 'created_at', 'id', 'retry_count', 'current', 'progress'], defaults=(0, False, 0))
 
-cur_upload_items = {}
+cur_upload_items: Dict[int, Any] = {}
 
 
 class UploadQueueCache():
@@ -128,7 +128,26 @@ def jsonrpc_handler(end_event):
       send_queue.put_nowait(json.dumps({"error": str(e)}))
 
 
-def upload_handler(end_event):
+def retry_upload(tid: int, end_event: threading.Event) -> None:
+  if cur_upload_items[tid].retry_count < MAX_RETRY_COUNT:
+    item = cur_upload_items[tid]
+    item = item._replace(
+      retry_count=item.retry_count + 1,
+      progress=0,
+      current=False
+    )
+    upload_queue.put_nowait(item)
+    UploadQueueCache.cache(upload_queue)
+
+    cur_upload_items[tid] = None
+
+    for _ in range(RETRY_DELAY):
+      time.sleep(1)
+      if end_event.is_set():
+        break
+
+
+def upload_handler(end_event: threading.Event) -> None:
   tid = threading.get_ident()
 
   while not end_event.is_set():
@@ -145,27 +164,15 @@ def upload_handler(end_event):
         def cb(sz, cur):
           cur_upload_items[tid] = cur_upload_items[tid]._replace(progress=cur / sz if sz else 1)
 
-        _do_upload(cur_upload_items[tid], cb)
+        response = _do_upload(cur_upload_items[tid], cb)
+        if response.status_code not in (200, 201, 403, 412):
+          cloudlog.warning(f"athena.upload_handler.retry {response.status_code} {cur_upload_items[tid]}")
+          retry_upload(tid, end_event)
         UploadQueueCache.cache(upload_queue)
       except (requests.exceptions.Timeout, requests.exceptions.ConnectionError, requests.exceptions.SSLError) as e:
         cloudlog.warning(f"athena.upload_handler.retry {e} {cur_upload_items[tid]}")
 
-        if cur_upload_items[tid].retry_count < MAX_RETRY_COUNT:
-          item = cur_upload_items[tid]
-          item = item._replace(
-            retry_count=item.retry_count + 1,
-            progress=0,
-            current=False
-          )
-          upload_queue.put_nowait(item)
-          UploadQueueCache.cache(upload_queue)
-
-          cur_upload_items[tid] = None
-
-          for _ in range(RETRY_DELAY):
-            time.sleep(1)
-            if end_event.is_set():
-              break
+        retry_upload(tid, end_event)
 
     except queue.Empty:
       pass
diff --git a/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py b/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
index 06d762c180..fb5936dde1 100755
--- a/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
+++ b/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
@@ -166,6 +166,31 @@ class TestAthenadMethods(unittest.TestCase):
     finally:
       end_event.set()
 
+  @with_http_server
+  @mock.patch('requests.put')
+  def test_upload_handler_retry(self, host, mock_put):
+    for status, retry in ((500, True), (412, False)):
+      mock_put.return_value.status_code = status
+      fn = os.path.join(athenad.ROOT, 'qlog.bz2')
+      Path(fn).touch()
+      item = athenad.UploadItem(path=fn, url=f"{host}/qlog.bz2", headers={}, created_at=int(time.time()*1000), id='')
+
+      end_event = threading.Event()
+      thread = threading.Thread(target=athenad.upload_handler, args=(end_event,))
+      thread.start()
+
+      athenad.upload_queue.put_nowait(item)
+      try:
+        self.wait_for_upload()
+        time.sleep(0.1)
+
+        self.assertEqual(athenad.upload_queue.qsize(), 1 if retry else 0)
+      finally:
+        end_event.set()
+      
+      if retry:
+        self.assertEqual(athenad.upload_queue.get().retry_count, 1)
+
   def test_upload_handler_timeout(self):
     """When an upload times out or fails to connect it should be placed back in the queue"""
     fn = os.path.join(athenad.ROOT, 'qlog.bz2')