--- a/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/telemetry/pingbuilders/TelemetrySyncPingBuilder.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/telemetry/pingbuilders/TelemetrySyncPingBuilder.java
@@ -126,17 +126,17 @@ public class TelemetrySyncPingBuilder ex
 
         if (devicesJSON.size() > 0) {
             payload.put("devices", devicesJSON);
         }
         return this;
     }
 
     public TelemetrySyncPingBuilder setError(@NonNull Serializable error) {
-        payload.put("failureReason", (ExtendedJSONObject) error);
+        payload.put("failureReason", castErrorObject(error));
         return this;
     }
 
     public TelemetrySyncPingBuilder setTook(long took) {
         payload.put("took", took);
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -154,9 +154,13 @@ public class TelemetrySyncPingBuilder ex
     /**
      * We broadcast this data via LocalBroadcastManager and control both sides of this code, so it
      * is acceptable to do an unchecked cast.
      */
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     private static HashMap<String, TelemetryStageCollector> castSyncData(final Serializable data) {
         return (HashMap<String, TelemetryStageCollector>) data;
     }
+
+    private static ExtendedJSONObject castErrorObject(final Serializable error) {
+        return (ExtendedJSONObject) error;
+    }
 }