diff --git a/hana/lib/cql-functions.js b/hana/lib/cql-functions.js
index c90524b9c..a226ea9e5 100644
--- a/hana/lib/cql-functions.js
+++ b/hana/lib/cql-functions.js
@@ -30,9 +30,16 @@ const StandardFunctions = {
       if (Array.isArray(arg)) arg = [{ val: arg.filter(a => a.val).map(a => a.val).join(' ') }]
       else arg = [arg]
       const searchTerms = arg[0].val
-          .match(/("")|("(?:[^"]|\\")*(?:[^\\]|\\\\)")|(\S*)/g)
-          .filter(el => el.length).map(el => `%${el.replace(/^\"|\"$/g, '').toLowerCase()}%`)
-
+        .match(/("")|("(?:[^"]|\\")*(?:[^\\]|\\\\)")|(\S*)/g)
+        .filter(el => el.length)
+        .map(el => {
+          try {
+            return `%${JSON.parse(el).toLowerCase()}%`
+          } catch {
+            return `%${el.toLowerCase()}%`
+          }
+        })
+      
       const columns = ref.list
       const xpr = []
       for (const s of searchTerms) {
diff --git a/hana/test/fuzzy.test.js b/hana/test/fuzzy.test.js
index a2ae4f103..b7f80aa42 100644
--- a/hana/test/fuzzy.test.js
+++ b/hana/test/fuzzy.test.js
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ describe('search', () => {
       const res = await cqn
       expect(res.length).to.be(2) // Eleonora and Jane Eyre
     })
-    
+
     test('fallback - 2 search terms', async () => {
       const { Books } = cds.entities('sap.capire.bookshop')
       const cqn = SELECT.from(Books).search('"autobio"', '"Jane"').columns('1')
@@ -74,5 +74,18 @@ describe('search', () => {
       const res = await cqn
       expect(res.length).to.be(1) // Jane Eyre
     })
+
+    test('fallback - 3 search terms with special characters', async () => {
+      const { Books } = cds.entities('sap.capire.bookshop')
+      const cqn = SELECT.from(Books).search('"1847"', '1846', '"\\"Ellis Bell\\""').columns('1')
+      const { sql, values } = cqn.toSQL()
+      // 5 columns to be searched createdBy, modifiedBy, title, descr, currency_code
+      expect(sql.match(/(like)/g).length).to.be(15)
+      expect(values).to.include('%1847%')
+      expect(values).to.include('%1846%')
+      expect(values).to.include('%"ellis bell"%')
+      const res = await cqn
+      expect(res.length).to.be(1) // Emily Brontë
+    })
   })
 })
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