diff --git a/src/autofit/afglobal.c b/src/autofit/afglobal.c
index 4092de6ba..87a3fbfb0 100644
--- a/src/autofit/afglobal.c
+++ b/src/autofit/afglobal.c
@@ -337,11 +337,13 @@
 
     /* we allocate an AF_FaceGlobals structure together */
     /* with the glyph_styles array                      */
-    if ( FT_ALLOC( globals,
-                   sizeof ( *globals ) +
-                     (FT_ULong)face->num_glyphs * sizeof ( FT_UShort ) ) )
+    if ( FT_QALLOC( globals,
+                    sizeof ( *globals ) +
+                      (FT_ULong)face->num_glyphs * sizeof ( FT_UShort ) ) )
       goto Exit;
 
+    FT_ZERO( &globals->metrics );
+
     globals->face                      = face;
     globals->glyph_count               = face->num_glyphs;
     /* right after the globals structure come the glyph styles */