diff --git a/include/engine/datafacade_factory.hpp b/include/engine/datafacade_factory.hpp
index 930851a0a..19984b0d7 100644
--- a/include/engine/datafacade_factory.hpp
+++ b/include/engine/datafacade_factory.hpp
@@ -102,7 +102,11 @@ template <template <typename A> class FacadeT, typename AlgorithmT> class DataFa
         for (const auto &name : params.avoid)
         {
             auto class_mask_iter = name_to_class.find(name);
-            if (class_mask_iter != name_to_class.end())
+            if (class_mask_iter == name_to_class.end())
+            {
+                return {};
+            }
+            else
             {
                 mask |= class_mask_iter->second;
             }
diff --git a/include/extractor/scripting_environment.hpp b/include/extractor/scripting_environment.hpp
index 371a86adf..92446f2ab 100644
--- a/include/extractor/scripting_environment.hpp
+++ b/include/extractor/scripting_environment.hpp
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ class ScriptingEnvironment
     virtual const ProfileProperties &GetProfileProperties() = 0;
 
     virtual std::vector<std::vector<std::string>> GetAvoidableClasses() = 0;
+    virtual std::vector<std::string> GetClassNames() = 0;
     virtual std::vector<std::string> GetNameSuffixList() = 0;
     virtual std::vector<std::string> GetRestrictions() = 0;
     virtual void ProcessTurn(ExtractionTurn &turn) = 0;
diff --git a/include/extractor/scripting_environment_lua.hpp b/include/extractor/scripting_environment_lua.hpp
index 8bdc83551..8a4b52ab5 100644
--- a/include/extractor/scripting_environment_lua.hpp
+++ b/include/extractor/scripting_environment_lua.hpp
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ class Sol2ScriptingEnvironment final : public ScriptingEnvironment
 
     std::vector<std::vector<std::string>> GetAvoidableClasses() override;
     std::vector<std::string> GetNameSuffixList() override;
+    std::vector<std::string> GetClassNames() override;
     std::vector<std::string> GetRestrictions() override;
     void ProcessTurn(ExtractionTurn &turn) override;
     void ProcessSegment(ExtractionSegment &segment) override;
diff --git a/profiles/car.lua b/profiles/car.lua
index 64dc33a04..ad72500be 100644
--- a/profiles/car.lua
+++ b/profiles/car.lua
@@ -100,11 +100,15 @@ function setup()
       'vehicle'
     },
 
+    classes = Sequence {
+        'toll', 'motorway', 'ferry', 'restricted'
+    },
+
     -- classes to support for avoid flags
     avoidable = Sequence {
-        Set {"toll"},
-        Set {"motorway"},
-        Set {"ferry"}
+        Set {'toll'},
+        Set {'motorway'},
+        Set {'ferry'}
     },
 
     avoid = Set {
diff --git a/src/extractor/extractor.cpp b/src/extractor/extractor.cpp
index 952b56649..8542923b4 100644
--- a/src/extractor/extractor.cpp
+++ b/src/extractor/extractor.cpp
@@ -68,9 +68,43 @@ namespace extractor
 namespace
 {
 // Converts the class name map into a fixed mapping of index to name
-void SetClassNames(const ExtractorCallbacks::ClassesMap &classes_map,
+void SetClassNames(const std::vector<std::string> &class_names,
+                   ExtractorCallbacks::ClassesMap &classes_map,
                    ProfileProperties &profile_properties)
 {
+    // if we get a list of class names we can validate if we set invalid classes
+    // and add classes that were never reference
+    if (!class_names.empty())
+    {
+        // add class names that were never used explicitly on a way
+        // this makes sure we can correctly validate unkown class names later
+        for (const auto &name : class_names)
+        {
+            auto iter = classes_map.find(name);
+            if (iter == classes_map.end())
+            {
+                auto index = classes_map.size();
+                if (index > MAX_CLASS_INDEX)
+                {
+                    throw util::exception("Maximum number of classes if " +
+                                          std::to_string(MAX_CLASS_INDEX + 1));
+                }
+
+                classes_map[name] = getClassData(index);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // check if class names are only from the list supplied by the user
+        for (const auto &pair : classes_map)
+        {
+            auto iter = std::find(class_names.begin(), class_names.end(), pair.first);
+            if (iter == class_names.end())
+            {
+                throw util::exception("Profile used unknown class name: " + pair.first);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     for (const auto &pair : classes_map)
     {
         auto range = getClassIndexes(pair.second);
@@ -379,7 +413,7 @@ Extractor::ParseOSMData(ScriptingEnvironment &scripting_environment,
                                       config.GetPath(".osrm.names").string());
 
     auto profile_properties = scripting_environment.GetProfileProperties();
-    SetClassNames(classes_map, profile_properties);
+    SetClassNames(scripting_environment.GetClassNames(), classes_map, profile_properties);
     auto avoidable_classes = scripting_environment.GetAvoidableClasses();
     SetAvoidableClasses(classes_map, avoidable_classes, profile_properties);
     files::writeProfileProperties(config.GetPath(".osrm.properties").string(), profile_properties);
diff --git a/src/extractor/scripting_environment_lua.cpp b/src/extractor/scripting_environment_lua.cpp
index cdcc3bf58..580def73b 100644
--- a/src/extractor/scripting_environment_lua.cpp
+++ b/src/extractor/scripting_environment_lua.cpp
@@ -739,6 +739,18 @@ std::vector<std::vector<std::string>> Sol2ScriptingEnvironment::GetAvoidableClas
     }
 }
 
+std::vector<std::string> Sol2ScriptingEnvironment::GetClassNames()
+{
+    auto &context = GetSol2Context();
+    switch (context.api_version)
+    {
+    case 2:
+        return Sol2ScriptingEnvironment::GetStringListFromTable("classes");
+    default:
+        return {};
+    }
+}
+
 std::vector<std::string> Sol2ScriptingEnvironment::GetNameSuffixList()
 {
     auto &context = GetSol2Context();
diff --git a/unit_tests/mocks/mock_scripting_environment.hpp b/unit_tests/mocks/mock_scripting_environment.hpp
index 2216de08d..c7510736e 100644
--- a/unit_tests/mocks/mock_scripting_environment.hpp
+++ b/unit_tests/mocks/mock_scripting_environment.hpp
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class MockScriptingEnvironment : public extractor::ScriptingEnvironment
 
     std::vector<std::string> GetNameSuffixList() override final { return {}; }
     std::vector<std::vector<std::string>> GetAvoidableClasses() override final { return {}; };
+    std::vector<std::string> GetClassNames() override { return {}; };
 
     std::vector<std::string> GetRestrictions() override final { return {}; }
     void ProcessTurn(extractor::ExtractionTurn &) override final {}