diff --git a/lib/dao.js b/lib/dao.js
index 1bdce64a..e954e32f 100644
--- a/lib/dao.js
+++ b/lib/dao.js
@@ -1737,7 +1737,9 @@ DataAccessObject._coerce = function(where, options) {
     if (Array.isArray(val)) {
       for (var i = 0; i < val.length; i++) {
         if (val[i] !== null && val[i] !== undefined) {
-          val[i] = DataType(val[i]);
+          if (!(val[i] instanceof RegExp)) {
+            val[i] = DataType(val[i]);
+          }
         }
       }
     } else {
diff --git a/test/loopback-dl.test.js b/test/loopback-dl.test.js
index a03ca33f..dbd166dd 100644
--- a/test/loopback-dl.test.js
+++ b/test/loopback-dl.test.js
@@ -1308,6 +1308,7 @@ describe('DataAccessObject', function() {
     model = ds.createModel('M1', {
       id: {type: String, id: true},
       age: Number,
+      string: 'string',
       vip: Boolean,
       date: Date,
       location: 'GeoPoint',
@@ -1653,6 +1654,12 @@ describe('DataAccessObject', function() {
       assert.deepEqual(where, {age: {inq: ['xyz', 12]}});
     });
 
+  it('does not coerce to a string for a regexp value in an array ',
+    function() {
+      where = model._coerce({string: {inq: [/xyz/i, new RegExp(/xyz/i)]}});
+      assert.deepEqual(where, {string: {inq: [/xyz/i, /xyz/i]}});
+    });
+
   // settings
   it('gets settings in priority',
     function() {