diff --git a/include/image-commands.mk b/include/image-commands.mk
index 6fe2890a1a..6b4bc4945c 100644
--- a/include/image-commands.mk
+++ b/include/image-commands.mk
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ IMAGE_KERNEL = $(word 1,$^)
 IMAGE_ROOTFS = $(word 2,$^)
 
 define ModelNameLimit16
-$(shell expr substr "$(word 2, $(subst _, ,$(1)))" 1 16)
+$(shell printf %.16s "$(word 2, $(subst _, ,$(1)))")
 endef
 
 define rootfs_align