diff --git oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/Segment.java oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/Segment.java
index abdac78..2657017 100644
--- oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/Segment.java
+++ oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/Segment.java
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ public class Segment {
         return new SegmentReferences() {
             @Override
             public SegmentId getSegmentId(int reference) {
-                checkArgument(reference <= referencedSegmentIdCount);
+                checkArgument(reference <= referencedSegmentIdCount, "Segment reference out of bounds");
                 SegmentId id = refIds[reference - 1];
                 if (id == null) {
                     synchronized(refIds) {
diff --git oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/file/tooling/ConsistencyChecker.java oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/file/tooling/ConsistencyChecker.java
index f6bd66f..1bbed7e 100644
--- oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/file/tooling/ConsistencyChecker.java
+++ oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/file/tooling/ConsistencyChecker.java
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ public class ConsistencyChecker implements Closeable {
             
             return null;
         } catch (RuntimeException | IOException e) {
-            printError("Error while traversing {0}: {1}", path, e.getMessage());
+            printError("Error while traversing {0}: {1}", path, e);
             return path;
         }
     }
diff --git oak-segment-tar/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/file/tooling/CheckInvalidRepositoryTest.java oak-segment-tar/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/file/tooling/CheckInvalidRepositoryTest.java
index 0c3b0e8..a75fa5b 100644
--- oak-segment-tar/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/file/tooling/CheckInvalidRepositoryTest.java
+++ oak-segment-tar/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/file/tooling/CheckInvalidRepositoryTest.java
@@ -99,7 +99,10 @@ public class CheckInvalidRepositoryTest extends CheckRepositoryTestBase {
         errWriter.close();
         
         assertExpectedOutput(strOut.toString(), Lists.newArrayList("No good revision found"));
-        assertExpectedOutput(strErr.toString(), Lists.newArrayList("Error while traversing /z", "Path /z not found"));
+        assertExpectedOutput(strErr.toString(),
+                Lists.newArrayList(
+                        "Error while traversing /z: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Segment reference out of bounds",
+                        "Path /z not found"));
     }
     
     @Test
@@ -129,6 +132,7 @@ public class CheckInvalidRepositoryTest extends CheckRepositoryTestBase {
         
         assertExpectedOutput(strOut.toString(), Lists.newArrayList("Checked 1 nodes and 1 properties", "Path /a is consistent", 
                 "Searched through 2 revisions"));
-        assertExpectedOutput(strErr.toString(), Lists.newArrayList("Error while traversing /a"));
+        assertExpectedOutput(strErr.toString(), Lists.newArrayList(
+                "Error while traversing /a: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Segment reference out of bounds"));
     }
 }