diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/terminal/ios.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/terminal/ios.py
index c108e91257b..f91e61f5f3a 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/terminal/ios.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/terminal/ios.py
@@ -25,6 +25,9 @@ import re
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleConnectionFailure
 from ansible.module_utils._text import to_text, to_bytes
 from ansible.plugins.terminal import TerminalBase
+from ansible.utils.display import Display
+
+display = Display()
 
 
 class TerminalModule(TerminalBase):
@@ -52,11 +55,15 @@ class TerminalModule(TerminalBase):
 
     def on_open_shell(self):
         try:
-            for cmd in (b'terminal length 0', b'terminal width 512'):
-                self._exec_cli_command(cmd)
+            self._exec_cli_command(b'terminal length 0')
         except AnsibleConnectionFailure:
             raise AnsibleConnectionFailure('unable to set terminal parameters')
 
+        try:
+            self._exec_cli_command(b'terminal width 512')
+        except AnsibleConnectionFailure:
+            display.display('WARNING: Unable to set terminal width, command responses may be truncated')
+
     def on_become(self, passwd=None):
         if self._get_prompt().endswith(b'#'):
             return