diff --git a/test/units/template/test_safe_eval.py b/test/units/template/test_safe_eval.py
index 785fc459921..610d4714439 100644
--- a/test/units/template/test_safe_eval.py
+++ b/test/units/template/test_safe_eval.py
@@ -19,3 +19,29 @@
 from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
 __metaclass__ = type
 
+from collections import defaultdict
+
+from ansible.compat.tests import unittest
+from ansible.compat.tests.mock import patch, MagicMock
+
+from ansible.template.safe_eval import safe_eval
+
+class TestSafeEval(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        pass
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        pass
+
+    def test_safe_eval_usage(self):
+        # test safe eval calls with different possible types for the
+        # locals dictionary, to ensure we don't run into problems like
+        # ansible/ansible/issues/12206 again
+        for locals_vars in (dict(), defaultdict(dict)):
+            self.assertEqual(safe_eval('True', locals=locals_vars), True)
+            self.assertEqual(safe_eval('False', locals=locals_vars), False)
+            self.assertEqual(safe_eval('0', locals=locals_vars), 0)
+            self.assertEqual(safe_eval('[]', locals=locals_vars), [])
+            self.assertEqual(safe_eval('{}', locals=locals_vars), {})
+