diff --git a/bin/cake b/bin/cake
index 5694676ae8..067cabbad3 100755
--- a/bin/cake
+++ b/bin/cake
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
+try {
+  new Function('var {a} = {a: 1}')();
+} catch (error) {
+  console.error('Your JavaScript runtime does not support some features used by the cake command. Please use Node 6 or later.');
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
 var path = require('path');
 var fs   = require('fs');
 
diff --git a/bin/coffee b/bin/coffee
index 9d8468bc35..9ebc45efa8 100755
--- a/bin/coffee
+++ b/bin/coffee
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
+try {
+  new Function('var {a} = {a: 1}')();
+} catch (error) {
+  console.error('Your JavaScript runtime does not support some features used by the coffee command. Please use Node 6 or later.');
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
 var path = require('path');
 var fs   = require('fs');