diff --git a/py/selenium/webdriver/chrome/webdriver.py b/py/selenium/webdriver/chrome/webdriver.py
index cf547a7f5b61e..182702ee18a7a 100644
--- a/py/selenium/webdriver/chrome/webdriver.py
+++ b/py/selenium/webdriver/chrome/webdriver.py
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ def __init__(self, executable_path="chromedriver", port=0,
         try:
             RemoteWebDriver.__init__(self,
                 command_executor=self.service.service_url,
-                desired_capabilities=desired_capabilities)
+                desired_capabilities=desired_capabilities,
+                keep_alive=True)
         except:
             self.quit()
             raise 
diff --git a/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/extension_connection.py b/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/extension_connection.py
index 76f7382d50dc9..c8a85f2a47e3b 100644
--- a/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/extension_connection.py
+++ b/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/extension_connection.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def __init__(self, host, firefox_profile, firefox_binary=None, timeout=30):
         self.binary.launch_browser(self.profile)
         _URL = "http://%s:%d/hub" % (HOST, PORT)
         RemoteConnection.__init__(
-            self, _URL)
+            self, _URL, keep_alive=True)
 
     def quit(self, sessionId=None):
         self.execute(Command.QUIT, {'sessionId':sessionId})
diff --git a/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py b/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py
index 5216910d59414..dd709cfd246a9 100644
--- a/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py
+++ b/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ def __init__(self, firefox_profile=None, firefox_binary=None, timeout=30,
         RemoteWebDriver.__init__(self,
             command_executor=ExtensionConnection("127.0.0.1", self.profile,
             self.binary, timeout),
-            desired_capabilities=capabilities)
+            desired_capabilities=capabilities,
+            keep_alive=True)
         self._is_remote = False
 
     def quit(self):
diff --git a/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py b/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py
index d9a89760ac517..3cf67f52e9398 100644
--- a/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py
+++ b/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/remote_connection.py
@@ -48,8 +48,9 @@ class RemoteConnection(object):
     Communicates with the server using the WebDriver wire protocol:
     http://code.google.com/p/selenium/wiki/JsonWireProtocol
     """
-    def __init__(self, remote_server_addr):
+    def __init__(self, remote_server_addr, keep_alive=False):
         # Attempt to resolve the hostname and get an IP address.
+        self.keep_alive = keep_alive
         parsed_url = parse.urlparse(remote_server_addr)
         addr = ""
         if parsed_url.hostname:
@@ -277,10 +278,12 @@ def _request(self, url, data=None, method=None):
         LOGGER.debug('%s %s %s' % (method, url, data))
 
         parsed_url = parse.urlparse(url)
-        headers = {"Connection": "keep-alive", method: parsed_url.path,
+        headers = {method: parsed_url.path,
                    "User-Agent": "Python http auth",
                    "Content-type": "application/json;charset=\"UTF-8\"",
                    "Accept": "application/json"}
+        if self.keep_alive:
+            headers['Connection'] = 'keep-alive'
 
         # for basic auth
         if parsed_url.username:
diff --git a/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py b/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py
index 11b9465941d1e..30fd3e6e85675 100755
--- a/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py
+++ b/py/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class WebDriver(object):
     """
 
     def __init__(self, command_executor='http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub',
-        desired_capabilities=None, browser_profile=None, proxy=None):
+        desired_capabilities=None, browser_profile=None, proxy=None, keep_alive=False):
         """
         Create a new driver that will issue commands using the wire protocol.
 
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ def __init__(self, command_executor='http://127.0.0.1:4444/wd/hub',
             proxy.add_to_capabilities(desired_capabilities)
         self.command_executor = command_executor
         if type(self.command_executor) is bytes or type(self.command_executor) is str:
-            self.command_executor = RemoteConnection(command_executor)
+            self.command_executor = RemoteConnection(command_executor, keep_alive=keep_alive)
         self._is_remote = True
         self.session_id = None
         self.capabilities = {}