diff --git a/plugin.xml b/plugin.xml
index 9a53bd2..341b4be 100644
--- a/plugin.xml
+++ b/plugin.xml
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
     <license>Apache 2.0</license>
     <keywords>cordova,in,app,browser,inappbrowser</keywords>
 
+    <engines>
+      <engine name="cordova" version=">=3.1.0" /><!-- Needs cordova/urlutil -->
+    </engines>
 
     <js-module src="www/InAppBrowser.js" name="InAppBrowser">
         <clobbers target="window.open" />
diff --git a/www/InAppBrowser.js b/www/InAppBrowser.js
index 83f5a22..3fe9261 100644
--- a/www/InAppBrowser.js
+++ b/www/InAppBrowser.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 var exec = require('cordova/exec');
 var channel = require('cordova/channel');
 var modulemapper = require('cordova/modulemapper');
+var urlutil = require('cordova/urlutil');
 
 function InAppBrowser() {
    this.channels = {
@@ -81,17 +82,18 @@ InAppBrowser.prototype = {
 };
 
 module.exports = function(strUrl, strWindowName, strWindowFeatures) {
-    var iab = new InAppBrowser();
-    var cb = function(eventname) {
-       iab._eventHandler(eventname);
-    };
-
     // Don't catch calls that write to existing frames (e.g. named iframes).
     if (window.frames && window.frames[strWindowName]) {
         var origOpenFunc = modulemapper.getOriginalSymbol(window, 'open');
         return origOpenFunc.apply(window, arguments);
     }
 
+    strUrl = urlutil.makeAbsolute(strUrl);
+    var iab = new InAppBrowser();
+    var cb = function(eventname) {
+       iab._eventHandler(eventname);
+    };
+
     exec(cb, cb, "InAppBrowser", "open", [strUrl, strWindowName, strWindowFeatures]);
     return iab;
 };