diff --git a/libguile/bytevectors.c b/libguile/bytevectors.c
index ee73b03bb..82132193c 100644
--- a/libguile/bytevectors.c
+++ b/libguile/bytevectors.c
@@ -258,9 +258,9 @@ make_bytevector_from_buffer (size_t len, void *contents,
 
   size_t bytes_per_elt = scm_i_array_element_type_sizes[element_type]/8;
   size_t c_len = len * bytes_per_elt;
+  scm_thread *thr = SCM_I_CURRENT_THREAD;
   struct scm_bytevector *bv =
-    scm_allocate_tagged (SCM_I_CURRENT_THREAD,
-                         sizeof (struct scm_bytevector));
+    scm_allocate_tagged (thr, sizeof (struct scm_bytevector));
 
   scm_t_bits flags = is_immutable ? SCM_F_BYTEVECTOR_IMMUTABLE : 0;
   bv->tag_flags_and_element_type = make_bytevector_tag (flags, element_type);
@@ -268,6 +268,9 @@ make_bytevector_from_buffer (size_t len, void *contents,
   bv->contents = contents;
   bv->parent = parent;
 
+  if (scm_is_true (parent))
+    scm_gc_pin_object (thr, parent);
+
   return bv;
 }