diff --git a/Code/UtilitiesAdapters/OGRAdapters/otbOGRDataSourceWrapper.cxx b/Code/UtilitiesAdapters/OGRAdapters/otbOGRDataSourceWrapper.cxx
index 2562d104176782cf37538efde4cededc2de8295c..f860de6ebe499b1f1487e182b43acf1c12faf9b5 100644
--- a/Code/UtilitiesAdapters/OGRAdapters/otbOGRDataSourceWrapper.cxx
+++ b/Code/UtilitiesAdapters/OGRAdapters/otbOGRDataSourceWrapper.cxx
@@ -161,7 +161,12 @@ otb::ogr::DataSource::Pointer otb::ogr::DataSource::OpenDataSource(std::string c
       }
 
     OGRSFDriver * d = OGRSFDriverRegistrar::GetRegistrar()->GetDriverByName(driverName);
-    assert(d && "OGR driver not found");
+
+    if(!d)
+      {
+      itkGenericExceptionMacro(<<"Could not create OGR driver "<<driverName<<", check your OGR configuration for available drivers.");
+      }
+
     source = d->CreateDataSource(datasourceName.c_str());
     if (!source) {
       itkGenericExceptionMacro(<< "Failed to create OGRDataSource <"<<datasourceName