Index: include/llvm/IR/DataLayout.h
===================================================================
--- include/llvm/IR/DataLayout.h
+++ include/llvm/IR/DataLayout.h
@@ -419,6 +419,16 @@
   /// \brief Returns the minimum ABI-required alignment for the specified type.
   unsigned getABITypeAlignment(Type *Ty) const;
 
+  /// Checks if a type is aligned to a single byte.
+  bool isUnaligned(Type *Ty) const {
+    return getABITypeAlignment(Ty) == 1;
+  }
+
+  /// Checks if a type has an alignment greater than one byte.
+  bool isAligned(Type *Ty) const {
+    return getABITypeAlignment(Ty) > 1;
+  }
+
   /// \brief Returns the minimum ABI-required alignment for an integer type of
   /// the specified bitwidth.
   unsigned getABIIntegerTypeAlignment(unsigned BitWidth) const;
Index: lib/CodeGen/SelectionDAG/SelectionDAGBuilder.cpp
===================================================================
--- lib/CodeGen/SelectionDAG/SelectionDAGBuilder.cpp
+++ lib/CodeGen/SelectionDAG/SelectionDAGBuilder.cpp
@@ -4137,13 +4137,16 @@
   SDLoc dl = getCurSDLoc();
   AtomicOrdering Order = I.getOrdering();
   SyncScope::ID SSID = I.getSyncScopeID();
+  const auto &DL = DAG.getDataLayout();
+  Type *Ty = I.getType();
 
   SDValue InChain = getRoot();
 
   const TargetLowering &TLI = DAG.getTargetLoweringInfo();
-  EVT VT = TLI.getValueType(DAG.getDataLayout(), I.getType());
+  EVT VT = TLI.getValueType(DL, Ty);
 
-  if (I.getAlignment() < VT.getSizeInBits() / 8)
+  if (DL.isAligned(Ty) &&
+      I.getAlignment() < VT.getSizeInBits() / 8)
     report_fatal_error("Cannot generate unaligned atomic load");
 
   MachineMemOperand *MMO =
Index: test/CodeGen/AVR/unaligned-atomic-loads.ll
===================================================================
--- /dev/null
+++ test/CodeGen/AVR/unaligned-atomic-loads.ll
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+; RUN: llc -mattr=addsubiw < %s -march=avr | FileCheck %s
+
+; This verifies that the middle end can handle an unaligned atomic load.
+;
+; In the past, an assertion inside the SelectionDAGBuilder would always
+; hit an assertion for unaligned loads and stores.
+
+%AtomicI16 = type { %CellI16, [0 x i8] }
+%CellI16 = type { i16, [0 x i8] }
+
+; CHECK-LABEL: foo
+; CHECK: ret
+define void @foo(%AtomicI16* %self) {
+start:
+  %a = getelementptr inbounds %AtomicI16, %AtomicI16* %self, i16 0, i32 0, i32 0
+  load atomic i16, i16* %a seq_cst, align 1
+  ret void
+}
+