diff --git a/gammu/src/smsd.c b/gammu/src/smsd.c
index f60e551d5..46ad99652 100644
--- a/gammu/src/smsd.c
+++ b/gammu/src/smsd.c
@@ -231,6 +231,9 @@ static int SMSD_init(SMSDObject * self, PyObject * args, PyObject * kwds)
 	if (!checkError(error, "SMSD_ReadConfig"))
 		return -1;
 
+	/* Disable exit on failure to allow Python to handle errors */
+	SMSD_SetExitOnFailure(self->config, FALSE);
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5148d7977..bef0b0f3a 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 
 # some defines
 VERSION = "3.2.5"
-GAMMU_REQUIRED = "1.41.0"
+GAMMU_REQUIRED = "1.43.0"
 
 
 class GammuConfig:
diff --git a/test/test_smsd.py b/test/test_smsd.py
index 7ee057191..9e4d2aff3 100644
--- a/test/test_smsd.py
+++ b/test/test_smsd.py
@@ -141,3 +141,17 @@ def test_smsd(self) -> None:
 
             # Wait for it
             smsd_thread.join()
+
+    def test_get_status_not_running(self) -> None:
+        """
+        Test that GetStatus raises exception when SMSD is not running.
+
+        This test verifies the fix for the issue where GetStatus would cause
+        Python to exit instead of raising an exception when SMSD is not running.
+        The fix disables the exit_on_failure flag in the SMSD config.
+        """
+        smsd = self.get_smsd()
+        # SMSD is not running, so GetStatus should raise an exception
+        # instead of causing Python to exit
+        with pytest.raises(gammu.GSMError):
+            smsd.GetStatus()