diff --git a/kdl_parser/src/kdl_parser.cpp b/kdl_parser/src/kdl_parser.cpp
index 114aa40..dcb6418 100644
--- a/kdl_parser/src/kdl_parser.cpp
+++ b/kdl_parser/src/kdl_parser.cpp
@@ -168,6 +168,10 @@ bool treeFromUrdfModel(const urdf::Model& robot_model, Tree& tree)
 {
   tree = Tree(robot_model.getRoot()->name);
 
+  // warn if root link has inertia. KDL does not support this
+  if (robot_model.getRoot()->inertial)
+    ROS_WARN("The root link %s has an inertia specified in the URDF, but KDL does not support a root link with an inertia.  As a workaround, you can add an extra dummy link to your URDF.", robot_model.getRoot()->name.c_str());
+
   //  add all children
   for (size_t i=0; i<robot_model.getRoot()->child_links.size(); i++)
     if (!addChildrenToTree(robot_model.getRoot()->child_links[i], tree))