diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
index 46768cba030..6e83480dd21 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/client/DefaultResponseErrorHandler.java
@@ -69,11 +69,10 @@ public class DefaultResponseErrorHandler implements ResponseErrorHandler {
 	 * to use to decode error content.
 	 * @since 6.0
 	 */
-	void setMessageConverters(List<HttpMessageConverter<?>> converters) {
+	protected void setMessageConverters(List<HttpMessageConverter<?>> converters) {
 		this.messageConverters = Collections.unmodifiableList(converters);
 	}
 
-
 	/**
 	 * Delegates to {@link #hasError(HttpStatusCode)} with the response status code.
 	 * @see ClientHttpResponse#getStatusCode()