diff --git a/pmd/etc/changelog.txt b/pmd/etc/changelog.txt
index 5345b379ca..386f458043 100644
--- a/pmd/etc/changelog.txt
+++ b/pmd/etc/changelog.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Fixed bug 1988829 - Violation reported without source file name (actually a fix
 Fixed bug 1989814 - false +: ConsecutiveLiteralAppends
 Fixed bug 1977230 - false positive: UselessOverridingMethod
 Fixed bug 1998185 - BeanMembersShouldSerialize vs @SuppressWarnings("serial")
+Fixed bug 2002722 - false + in UseStringBufferForStringAppends
 Optimizations and false positive fixes in PreserveStackTrace
 @SuppressWarnings("all") disables all warnings
 
diff --git a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/optimizations/xml/UseStringBufferForStringAppends.xml b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/optimizations/xml/UseStringBufferForStringAppends.xml
index a64ece3744..cc710634b2 100644
--- a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/optimizations/xml/UseStringBufferForStringAppends.xml
+++ b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/optimizations/xml/UseStringBufferForStringAppends.xml
@@ -99,6 +99,38 @@ public class Foo{
         for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++){
         result = result + i;
         } }
+}
+     ]]></code>
+    </test-code>
+    <test-code>
+        <description><![CDATA[
+false positive bug #2002722
+     ]]></description>
+        <expected-problems>0</expected-problems>
+        <code><![CDATA[
+public class Foo {
+  void bar() {
+    String dtdColumnNames[] = null;
+    String sortedDtdColumns[] = null;
+    final int loop = 0;
+    dtdColumnNames[loop] = dtdColumnNames[loop].trim ( );
+    sortedDtdColumns[loop] = sortedDtdColumns[loop].trim ( );
+  }
+}
+     ]]></code>
+    </test-code>
+    <test-code>
+        <description><![CDATA[
+false positive bug #2002722, different bug in comment section
+     ]]></description>
+        <expected-problems>0</expected-problems>
+        <code><![CDATA[
+public class Foo {
+  void bar2() {
+    String foo ="foo";
+    foo = mangleTheInput(foo);
+  }
+  String mangleTheInput(final String s) { return s;}
 }
      ]]></code>
     </test-code>
diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/optimization/UseStringBufferForStringAppends.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/optimization/UseStringBufferForStringAppends.java
index 0bdee7e0a4..cccec33932 100644
--- a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/optimization/UseStringBufferForStringAppends.java
+++ b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/optimization/UseStringBufferForStringAppends.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package net.sourceforge.pmd.rules.optimization;
 
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.AbstractRule;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTArgumentList;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTAssignmentOperator;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTLocalVariableDeclaration;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTName;
@@ -14,8 +15,9 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.typeresolution.TypeHelper;
 
 public class UseStringBufferForStringAppends extends AbstractRule {
 
+    @Override
     public Object visit(ASTVariableDeclaratorId node, Object data) {
-        if (!TypeHelper.isA(node, String.class)) {
+        if (!TypeHelper.isA(node, String.class) || node.isArray()) {
             return data;
         }
         Node parent = node.jjtGetParent().jjtGetParent();
@@ -28,6 +30,11 @@ public class UseStringBufferForStringAppends extends AbstractRule {
             if (statement == null) {
                 continue;
             }
+            ASTArgumentList argList = name.getFirstParentOfType(ASTArgumentList.class);
+            if (argList != null && argList.getFirstParentOfType(ASTStatementExpression.class) == statement) {
+                // used in method call
+                continue;
+            }
             if (statement.jjtGetNumChildren() > 0 && statement.jjtGetChild(0).getClass().equals(ASTPrimaryExpression.class)) {
                 ASTName astName = ((SimpleNode) statement.jjtGetChild(0)).getFirstChildOfType(ASTName.class);
                 if(astName != null){