diff --git a/last9-otel-setup.sh b/last9-otel-setup.sh
index bbdbc0a..a2d436b 100755
--- a/last9-otel-setup.sh
+++ b/last9-otel-setup.sh
@@ -148,17 +148,27 @@ detect_host_platform() {
     log_info "Host platform: arch=${HOST_ARCH} pkg=${HOST_PKG}"
 }
 
-# Detect Helm major version and set schema validation flag
-# Helm v4+ enforces stricter JSON Schema validation (Draft 2019-09) which
-# may reject upstream charts with schema bugs. We add --skip-schema-validation
-# for Helm v4+ since K8s admission controllers still validate all resources.
+# Enable --skip-schema-validation whenever the installed Helm supports it.
+#
+# Helm 3.18.5+ (and Helm v4) enforce strict JSON Schema *metaschema* validation
+# (Draft 2019-09) against a chart's own values.schema.json. Upstream charts with
+# minor schema-spec violations are then rejected before install — e.g. the
+# opentelemetry-operator chart declares `manager.featureGates.examples` as a
+# string when the metaschema requires an array, producing:
+#   "...values.schema.json#" is not valid against metaschema ... 'examples': got string, want array
+# --skip-schema-validation (available since Helm 3.16) makes install/upgrade skip
+# that validation entirely; Kubernetes admission controllers still validate every
+# rendered resource, so this is safe.
+#
+# We probe for the flag's availability via `helm upgrade --help` rather than
+# parsing version numbers. Version gating is fragile: the previous "major >= 4"
+# check passed on developer machines running Helm v4 but silently left every
+# customer on Helm 3.18.5–3.x exposed to the failure above.
 HELM_SCHEMA_FLAG=""
-detect_helm_version() {
-    local helm_ver
-    helm_ver=$(helm version --short 2>/dev/null | grep -oE 'v[0-9]+' | head -1 | tr -d 'v')
-    if [ -n "$helm_ver" ] && [ "$helm_ver" -ge 4 ] 2>/dev/null; then
+detect_helm_schema_flag() {
+    if helm upgrade --help 2>/dev/null | grep -q -- '--skip-schema-validation'; then
         HELM_SCHEMA_FLAG="--skip-schema-validation"
-        log_info "Helm v${helm_ver} detected — adding --skip-schema-validation for chart compatibility"
+        log_info "Helm supports --skip-schema-validation — enabling it to tolerate upstream chart schema quirks"
     fi
 }
 
@@ -1497,8 +1507,8 @@ update_monitoring_endpoint() {
 setup_helm_repos() {
     log_info "Setting up Helm repositories..."
 
-    # Detect Helm version for compatibility flags
-    detect_helm_version
+    # Enable --skip-schema-validation if this Helm supports it (compatibility)
+    detect_helm_schema_flag
 
     helm repo add open-telemetry https://open-telemetry.github.io/opentelemetry-helm-charts
     helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
diff --git a/tests/unit.bats b/tests/unit.bats
index a293d6b..0334755 100644
--- a/tests/unit.bats
+++ b/tests/unit.bats
@@ -209,6 +209,103 @@ load_helpers() {
     rm -rf "$tmpdir"
 }
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# detect_helm_schema_flag — enable --skip-schema-validation when Helm supports it
+# Regression: Helm 3.18.5+ strict metaschema validation rejects the upstream
+# opentelemetry-operator chart (featureGates.examples is a string). The flag must
+# be enabled on ANY Helm that supports it (>=3.16), not only major >= 4.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+detect_helm_schema_flag_func() {
+    awk '/^detect_helm_schema_flag\(\)/,/^}/' "$SCRIPT"
+}
+
+# NOTE: assertions are the LAST commands in each test. bats has no implicit
+# `set -e`, so a trailing `rm -rf` would mask a failing assertion. Cleanup runs
+# before the assertions; $output is already captured by `run`.
+
+@test "detect_helm_schema_flag: enables flag when Helm supports --skip-schema-validation" {
+    tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+    cat > "$tmpdir/helm" << 'SH'
+#!/bin/sh
+if [ "$1" = "upgrade" ] && [ "$2" = "--help" ]; then
+  echo "      --skip-schema-validation   if set, disables JSON schema validation"
+  exit 0
+fi
+exit 0
+SH
+    chmod +x "$tmpdir/helm"
+
+    func_body=$(detect_helm_schema_flag_func)
+    run bash -c "
+        export PATH=$tmpdir:\$PATH
+        log_info() { :; }
+        HELM_SCHEMA_FLAG=''
+        $func_body
+        detect_helm_schema_flag
+        echo \"flag=[\$HELM_SCHEMA_FLAG]\"
+    "
+    rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"flag=[--skip-schema-validation]"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "detect_helm_schema_flag: Helm 3.18.5 (major 3) still gets the flag (customer regression)" {
+    tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+    # Simulate Helm 3.18.5: --version reports v3.18.5 but help DOES expose the flag.
+    cat > "$tmpdir/helm" << 'SH'
+#!/bin/sh
+if [ "$1" = "version" ]; then echo "v3.18.5+gd84a6c0"; exit 0; fi
+if [ "$1" = "upgrade" ] && [ "$2" = "--help" ]; then
+  echo "      --skip-schema-validation   if set, disables JSON schema validation"
+  exit 0
+fi
+exit 0
+SH
+    chmod +x "$tmpdir/helm"
+
+    func_body=$(detect_helm_schema_flag_func)
+    run bash -c "
+        export PATH=$tmpdir:\$PATH
+        log_info() { :; }
+        HELM_SCHEMA_FLAG=''
+        $func_body
+        detect_helm_schema_flag
+        echo \"flag=[\$HELM_SCHEMA_FLAG]\"
+    "
+    rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [[ "$output" == *"flag=[--skip-schema-validation]"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "detect_helm_schema_flag: old Helm without the flag leaves it empty" {
+    tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+    # Simulate Helm < 3.16: help does NOT list --skip-schema-validation.
+    cat > "$tmpdir/helm" << 'SH'
+#!/bin/sh
+if [ "$1" = "upgrade" ] && [ "$2" = "--help" ]; then
+  echo "      --atomic   if set, upgrade process rolls back on failure"
+  echo "      --wait     if set, will wait until all resources are ready"
+  exit 0
+fi
+exit 0
+SH
+    chmod +x "$tmpdir/helm"
+
+    func_body=$(detect_helm_schema_flag_func)
+    run bash -c "
+        export PATH=$tmpdir:\$PATH
+        log_info() { :; }
+        HELM_SCHEMA_FLAG=''
+        $func_body
+        detect_helm_schema_flag
+        echo \"flag=[\$HELM_SCHEMA_FLAG]\"
+    "
+    rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+    [ "$output" = "flag=[]" ]
+}
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # setup_context_wrappers
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------