diff --git a/node/nodeutil/controller.go b/node/nodeutil/controller.go
index cc09ab07c..f3b3205dd 100644
--- a/node/nodeutil/controller.go
+++ b/node/nodeutil/controller.go
@@ -251,6 +251,9 @@ type NodeConfig struct {
 	// The default value is derived from the number of cores available.
 	NumWorkers int
 
+	// Set the error handler for node status update failures
+	NodeStatusUpdateErrorHandler node.ErrorHandler
+
 	routeAttacher func(Provider, NodeConfig, corev1listers.PodLister)
 }
 
@@ -365,11 +368,19 @@ func NewNode(name string, newProvider NewProviderFunc, opts ...NodeOpt) (*Node,
 		}
 	}
 
+	nodeControllerOpts := []node.NodeControllerOpt{
+		node.WithNodeEnableLeaseV1(NodeLeaseV1Client(cfg.Client), node.DefaultLeaseDuration),
+	}
+
+	if cfg.NodeStatusUpdateErrorHandler != nil {
+		nodeControllerOpts = append(nodeControllerOpts, node.WithNodeStatusUpdateErrorHandler(cfg.NodeStatusUpdateErrorHandler))
+	}
+
 	nc, err := node.NewNodeController(
 		np,
 		&cfg.NodeSpec,
 		cfg.Client.CoreV1().Nodes(),
-		node.WithNodeEnableLeaseV1(NodeLeaseV1Client(cfg.Client), node.DefaultLeaseDuration),
+		nodeControllerOpts...,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error creating node controller")