diff --git a/Jenkinsfile b/Jenkinsfile
index ca0d6dac6b..f7d62024bc 100644
--- a/Jenkinsfile
+++ b/Jenkinsfile
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ node {
     parallel (
       // tici tests
       'onroad tests': {
-        deviceStage("onroad", "tici-needs-can", [], [
+        deviceStage("onroad", "tici-needs-can", ["UNSAFE=1"], [
           // TODO: ideally, this test runs in master-ci, but it takes 5+m to build it
           //["build master-ci", "cd $SOURCE_DIR/release && TARGET_DIR=$TEST_DIR $SOURCE_DIR/scripts/retry.sh ./build_devel.sh"],
           step("build openpilot", "cd system/manager && ./build.py"),
diff --git a/selfdrive/test/setup_device_ci.sh b/selfdrive/test/setup_device_ci.sh
index fff01d260b..67671546a6 100755
--- a/selfdrive/test/setup_device_ci.sh
+++ b/selfdrive/test/setup_device_ci.sh
@@ -115,8 +115,8 @@ if [ ! -d "$SOURCE_DIR" ]; then
 fi
 
 if [ ! -z "$UNSAFE" ]; then
-  echo "doing unsafe checkout"
-  unsafe_checkout
+  echo "trying unsafe checkout"
+  unsafe_checkout || safe_checkout
 else
   echo "doing safe checkout"
   safe_checkout