diff --git a/addons/web/static/src/js/chrome/action_manager.js b/addons/web/static/src/js/chrome/action_manager.js
index 9221561f2d9..934473109a3 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/src/js/chrome/action_manager.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/src/js/chrome/action_manager.js
@@ -185,13 +185,17 @@ var ViewManagerAction = WidgetAction.extend({
      * @param {int} [scrollTop] the number of pixels to scroll
      */
     setScrollTop: function(scrollTop) {
-        this.widget.active_view.controller.setScrollTop(scrollTop);
+        var viewController = this.widget.active_view.controller;
+        if (viewController) {
+            viewController.setScrollTop(scrollTop);
+        }
     },
     /**
      * @return {int} the number of pixels the webclient is scrolled when leaving the action
      */
     getScrollTop: function() {
-        return this.widget.active_view.controller.getScrollTop();
+        var viewController = this.widget.active_view.controller;
+        return viewController ? viewController.getScrollTop() : 0;
     },
     /**
      * @return {Array} array of Objects that will be interpreted to display the breadcrumbs
@@ -340,6 +344,16 @@ var ActionManager = Widget.extend({
                 // Hide the main ControlPanel for widgets that do not use it
                 self.main_control_panel.do_hide();
             }
+
+            // most of the time, the self.$el element should already be empty,
+            // because we detached the old action just a few line up.  However,
+            // it may happen that it is not empty, for example when a view
+            // manager was unable to load a view because of a crash.  In any
+            // case, this is done as a safety measure to avoid the 'double view'
+            // situation that we had when the web client was unable to recover
+            // from a crash.
+            self.$el.empty();
+
             dom.append(self.$el, new_widget_fragment, {
                 in_DOM: self.is_in_DOM,
                 callbacks: [{widget: self.inner_widget}],
diff --git a/addons/web/static/src/js/chrome/view_manager.js b/addons/web/static/src/js/chrome/view_manager.js
index 02250d5cc15..d8f0e3776d9 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/src/js/chrome/view_manager.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/src/js/chrome/view_manager.js
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ var ViewManager = Widget.extend(ControlPanelMixin, {
      */
     on_detach_callback: function() {
         this.is_in_DOM = false;
-        if (this.active_view && this.active_view.controller.on_detach_callback) {
+        var controller = this.active_view && this.active_view.controller;
+        if (controller && controller.on_detach_callback) {
             this.active_view.controller.on_detach_callback();
         }
     },
@@ -282,7 +283,7 @@ var ViewManager = Widget.extend(ControlPanelMixin, {
                         view.$fragment = view.$fragment.contents();
                         view.loaded.resolve();
                     });
-                });
+                }).fail(view.loaded.reject.bind(view.loaded));
             } else {
                 view.loaded = view.loaded.then(function() {
                     view_options = _.extend({}, view_options, self.env);