diff --git a/django/db/backends/__init__.py b/django/db/backends/__init__.py
index bf3e9db15aa..a58cd695437 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/__init__.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/__init__.py
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ class BaseDatabaseOperations(object):
         from django.utils.encoding import smart_unicode, force_unicode
 
         # Convert params to contain Unicode values.
-        to_unicode = lambda s: force_unicode(s, strings_only=True)
+        to_unicode = lambda s: force_unicode(s, strings_only=True, errors='replace')
         if isinstance(params, (list, tuple)):
             u_params = tuple([to_unicode(val) for val in params])
         else: