diff --git a/dune/gfe/rodassembler.hh b/dune/gfe/rodassembler.hh
index d900fcc740d8873cd0e9db1e18bd307dca5761c6..ce794c7138d6a8d5bc52be72496a2dc8167d35e3 100644
--- a/dune/gfe/rodassembler.hh
+++ b/dune/gfe/rodassembler.hh
@@ -28,8 +28,9 @@ class RodAssembler<Basis,3> : public GeodesicFEAssembler<Basis, RigidBodyMotion<
 {
   typedef typename Basis::GridView GridView;
 
-        //! Dimension of the grid.  This needs to be one!
-        enum { gridDim = GridView::dimension };
+  //! Dimension of the grid.
+  enum { gridDim = GridView::dimension };
+  static_assert(gridDim==1, "RodAssembler can only be used with one-dimensional grids!");
 
         enum { elementOrder = 1};
 
@@ -95,8 +96,9 @@ class RodAssembler<Basis,2> : public GeodesicFEAssembler<Basis, RigidBodyMotion<
     typedef typename Basis::GridView GridView;
     typedef typename GridView::template Codim<0>::Entity EntityType;
 
-    //! Dimension of the grid.  This needs to be one!
-    enum { gridDim = GridView::dimension };
+  //! Dimension of the grid.
+  enum { gridDim = GridView::dimension };
+  static_assert(gridDim==1, "RodAssembler can only be used with one-dimensional grids!");
 
     enum { elementOrder = 1};