diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/auto_scaling_groups.go b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/auto_scaling_groups.go
index 6b7d1633309f..6e184da6720d 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/auto_scaling_groups.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/auto_scaling_groups.go
@@ -548,7 +548,7 @@ func (m *asgCache) isNodeGroupAvailable(group *autoscaling.Group) (bool, error)
 			if activity.StartTime.Before(lut) {
 				break
 			} else if *activity.StatusCode == "Failed" {
-				klog.Warningf("ASG %s scaling failed with %s", asgRef.Name, *activity)
+				klog.Warningf("ASG %s scaling failed with %s", asgRef.Name, *activity.StatusMessage)
 				return false, nil
 			}
 		} else {
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/auto_scaling_groups_test.go b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/auto_scaling_groups_test.go
index b536194fdf64..6ddf34ce35d3 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/auto_scaling_groups_test.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/auto_scaling_groups_test.go
@@ -81,8 +81,9 @@ func TestCreatePlaceholders(t *testing.T) {
 			desiredCapacity: aws.Int64(1),
 			activities: []*autoscaling.Activity{
 				{
-					StatusCode: aws.String("Failed"),
-					StartTime:  aws.Time(time.Unix(10, 0)),
+					StatusCode:    aws.String("Failed"),
+					StartTime:     aws.Time(time.Unix(10, 0)),
+					StatusMessage: aws.String("Something failed"),
 				},
 			},
 			groupLastUpdateTime: time.Unix(9, 0),