diff --git a/common/params.py b/common/params.py
index 2cfca37129..b6be424d41 100644
--- a/common/params.py
+++ b/common/params.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-from common.params_pyx import Params, ParamKeyType, UnknownKeyName, put_nonblocking # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module, import-error
+from common.params_pyx import Params, ParamKeyType, UnknownKeyName, put_nonblocking, put_bool_nonblocking # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module, import-error
 assert Params
 assert ParamKeyType
 assert UnknownKeyName
 assert put_nonblocking
+assert put_bool_nonblocking
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
   import sys
diff --git a/common/params_pyx.pyx b/common/params_pyx.pyx
index b3b8248529..36c8cf777a 100755
--- a/common/params_pyx.pyx
+++ b/common/params_pyx.pyx
@@ -100,11 +100,7 @@ cdef class Params:
     return self.p.getParamPath(key_bytes).decode("utf-8")
 
 def put_nonblocking(key, val, d=""):
-  def f(key, val):
-    params = Params(d)
-    cdef string k = ensure_bytes(key)
-    params.put(k, val)
-
-  t = threading.Thread(target=f, args=(key, val))
-  t.start()
-  return t
+  threading.Thread(target=lambda: Params(d).put(key, val)).start()
+
+def put_bool_nonblocking(key, bool val, d=""):
+  threading.Thread(target=lambda: Params(d).put_bool(key, val)).start()
diff --git a/common/tests/test_params.py b/common/tests/test_params.py
index 906198871b..f99ac81a33 100644
--- a/common/tests/test_params.py
+++ b/common/tests/test_params.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import tempfile
 import shutil
 import unittest
 
-from common.params import Params, ParamKeyType, UnknownKeyName, put_nonblocking
+from common.params import Params, ParamKeyType, UnknownKeyName, put_nonblocking, put_bool_nonblocking
 
 class TestParams(unittest.TestCase):
   def setUp(self):
@@ -89,6 +89,15 @@ class TestParams(unittest.TestCase):
     assert q.get("CarParams") is None
     assert q.get("CarParams", True) == b"test"
 
+  def test_put_bool_non_blocking_with_get_block(self):
+    q = Params(self.tmpdir)
+    def _delayed_writer():
+      time.sleep(0.1)
+      put_bool_nonblocking("CarParams", True, self.tmpdir)
+    threading.Thread(target=_delayed_writer).start()
+    assert q.get("CarParams") is None
+    assert q.get("CarParams", True) == b"1"
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
   unittest.main()