diff --git a/unity/Runtime/Components/Joints/MjJointSettings.cs b/unity/Runtime/Components/Joints/MjJointSettings.cs
index 1bd684c6..322d6568 100644
--- a/unity/Runtime/Components/Joints/MjJointSettings.cs
+++ b/unity/Runtime/Components/Joints/MjJointSettings.cs
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ namespace Mujoco {
       FrictionLoss = mjcf.GetFloatAttribute("frictionloss", 0.0f);
 
       bool defaultLimited = false;
-      if ((mjcf.OwnerDocument.GetElementsByTagName("compiler") [0]["compiler"])
+      if ((mjcf.OwnerDocument.GetElementsByTagName("compiler")[0]?["compiler"])
               ?.GetBoolAttribute("autolimits", true) ??
           true) {
         defaultLimited = mjcf.HasAttribute("range");
diff --git a/unity/Runtime/Components/MjActuator.cs b/unity/Runtime/Components/MjActuator.cs
index bf937e45..9aacf2bf 100644
--- a/unity/Runtime/Components/MjActuator.cs
+++ b/unity/Runtime/Components/MjActuator.cs
@@ -82,9 +82,9 @@ public class MjActuator : MjComponent {
       LengthRange = mjcf.GetVector2Attribute("lengthrange", defaultValue: Vector2.zero);
       Gear = mjcf.GetFloatArrayAttribute("gear", defaultValue: new float[] { 1.0f }).ToList();
 
-      bool autolimits = (mjcf.OwnerDocument.GetElementsByTagName("compiler")[0]["compiler"])
+      bool autolimits = (mjcf.OwnerDocument.GetElementsByTagName("compiler")[0]?["compiler"])
                             ?.GetBoolAttribute("autolimits", true) ??
-                        true;
+                        false;
       CtrlLimited = mjcf.GetBoolAttribute("ctrllimited",
           defaultValue: autolimits ? CtrlRange != Vector2.zero : false);
       ForceLimited = mjcf.GetBoolAttribute("forcelimited",