diff --git a/docs/usage/configuration-options.md b/docs/usage/configuration-options.md
index 2a69db77e11210b4eaf3f45e816b9e82eef6e417..27c09e582920807c10ec8d718423d2483d7cea88 100644
--- a/docs/usage/configuration-options.md
+++ b/docs/usage/configuration-options.md
@@ -299,15 +299,15 @@ If you truly need to configure this then it probably means either:
 
 ## branchNameStrict
 
-By default, Renovate doesn't care about special characters when slugifying the branch name.
-This means that special characters like `.` may end up in the branch name.
-
-When you set `branchNameStrict` to `true`:
+By default, Renovate removes special characters when slugifying the branch name:
 
 - all special characters are removed
 - only alphabetic characters are allowed
 - hyphens `-` are used to separate sections
 
+To revert this behavior to that used in v32 and before, set this value to `false`.
+This will mean that special characters like `.` may end up in the branch name.
+
 ## branchPrefix
 
 You can modify this field if you want to change the prefix used.
diff --git a/lib/config/options/index.ts b/lib/config/options/index.ts
index 71413beedcae4d5df3c5a0429317241d2947923b..3db6cf11576f7a772e8847a84f387e485aec950b 100644
--- a/lib/config/options/index.ts
+++ b/lib/config/options/index.ts
@@ -2412,7 +2412,7 @@ const options: RenovateOptions[] = [
     name: 'branchNameStrict',
     description: `Whether to be strict about the use of special characters within the branch name.`,
     type: 'boolean',
-    default: false,
+    default: true,
   },
 ];