diff --git a/doc/changelog.rst b/doc/changelog.rst
index 57f94107..d2d2e09b 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.rst
+++ b/doc/changelog.rst
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ General
 Bug fixes
 ^^^^^^^^^
 
+- Fixed a bug that for :at:`shellinertia` equal to ``true`` caused the mesh orientation to be overwritten by the
+  principal components of the shell inertia, while the vertex coordinates are rotated using the volumetric inertia.
+  Now the volumetric inertia orientation is used also in the shell case.
 - Fixed misalignment bug in mesh-to-primitive fitting when using the bounding box fitting option :at:`fitaabb`.
 - The ``launch_repl`` functionality in the Python viewer is fixed.
 
diff --git a/src/user/user_mesh.cc b/src/user/user_mesh.cc
index f2191b43..0e50c231 100644
--- a/src/user/user_mesh.cc
+++ b/src/user/user_mesh.cc
@@ -1152,7 +1152,7 @@ void mjCMesh::Process() {
 
     // copy quat
     for (j=0; j<4; j++) {
-      GetQuatPtr(type)[j] = quattmp[j];
+      GetQuatPtr(type)[j] = type == mjVOLUME_MESH ? quattmp[j] : GetQuatPtr(mjVOLUME_MESH)[j];
     }
 
     // rotate vertices and normals into axis-aligned frame
diff --git a/test/user/testdata/torus_shell.xml b/test/user/testdata/torus_shell.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b31a6039
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/user/testdata/torus_shell.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<mujoco>
+  <asset>
+    <mesh file="torus.obj"/>
+  </asset>
+  <worldbody>
+    <geom type="mesh" mesh="torus" shellinertia="true"/>
+  </worldbody>
+</mujoco>
diff --git a/test/user/user_mesh_test.cc b/test/user/user_mesh_test.cc
index b3b12611..b91be472 100644
--- a/test/user/user_mesh_test.cc
+++ b/test/user/user_mesh_test.cc
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ static const char* const kCubePath =
     "user/testdata/cube.xml";
 static const char* const kTorusPath =
     "user/testdata/torus.xml";
+static const char* const kTorusShellPath =
+    "user/testdata/torus_shell.xml";
 static const char* const kConvexInertiaPath =
     "user/testdata/inertia_convex.xml";
 static const char* const kConcaveInertiaPath =
@@ -352,6 +354,21 @@ TEST_F(MjCMeshTest, FlippedFaceAllowedNegligibleArea) {
   mj_deleteModel(model);
 }
 
+TEST_F(MjCMeshTest, ShellUsesVolumeFrame) {
+  const std::string xml_path_v = GetTestDataFilePath(kTorusPath);
+  const std::string xml_path_s = GetTestDataFilePath(kTorusShellPath);
+  std::array<char, 1024> error;
+  mjModel* mv = mj_loadXML(xml_path_v.c_str(), 0, error.data(), error.size());
+  mjModel* ms = mj_loadXML(xml_path_s.c_str(), 0, error.data(), error.size());
+  mjtNum tolerance = std::numeric_limits<float>::epsilon();
+  EXPECT_NEAR(mv->geom_quat[0], ms->geom_quat[0], tolerance);
+  EXPECT_NEAR(mv->geom_quat[1], ms->geom_quat[1], tolerance);
+  EXPECT_NEAR(mv->geom_quat[2], ms->geom_quat[2], tolerance);
+  EXPECT_NEAR(mv->geom_quat[3], ms->geom_quat[3], tolerance);
+  mj_deleteModel(mv);
+  mj_deleteModel(ms);
+}
+
 TEST_F(MjCMeshTest, AreaTooSmall) {
   static constexpr char xml[] = R"(
   <mujoco>