diff --git a/R/geom-hex.r b/R/geom-hex.r
index 3f786d1080..7d2271a023 100644
--- a/R/geom-hex.r
+++ b/R/geom-hex.r
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #' @inheritParams geom_point
 #' @export
 #' @examples
+#' if (!requireNamespace("hexbin", quietly = TRUE)) {
 #' d <- ggplot(diamonds, aes(carat, price))
 #' d + geom_hex()
 #'
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@
 #' d + geom_hex(binwidth = c(1, 1000))
 #' d + geom_hex(binwidth = c(.1, 500))
 #' }
+#' }
 geom_hex <- function(mapping = NULL, data = NULL,
                      stat = "binhex", position = "identity",
                      ...,
diff --git a/R/stat-.r b/R/stat-.r
index 5d03ae859a..4e2cecf8b2 100644
--- a/R/stat-.r
+++ b/R/stat-.r
@@ -97,10 +97,18 @@ Stat <- ggproto("Stat",
     args <- c(list(data = quote(data), scales = quote(scales)), params)
     dapply(data, "PANEL", function(data) {
       scales <- layout$get_scales(data$PANEL[1])
-      try_fetch(do.call(self$compute_panel, args), error = function(cnd) {
-        cli::cli_warn("Computation failed in {.fn {snake_class(self)}}", parent = cnd)
-        new_data_frame()
-      })
+      try_fetch(do.call(self$compute_panel, args),
+        error = function(cnd) {
+          # if the error comes from check_installed(), propagate it immediately.
+          if (inherits(cnd, "rlib_error_package_not_found")) {
+            cli::cli_abort("Aborted computation in {.fn {snake_class(self)}}", parent = cnd)
+          }
+
+          # for other errors, ignore them with warnings
+          cli::cli_warn("Computation failed in {.fn {snake_class(self)}}", parent = cnd)
+          new_data_frame()
+        }
+      )
     })
   },
 
diff --git a/R/stat-summary.r b/R/stat-summary.r
index 41107469aa..6e0a83cb7f 100644
--- a/R/stat-summary.r
+++ b/R/stat-summary.r
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 #' @param fun.args Optional additional arguments passed on to the functions.
 #' @export
 #' @examples
+#' if (requireNamespace("Hmisc", quietly = TRUE)) {
 #' d <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(cyl, mpg)) + geom_point()
 #' d + stat_summary(fun.data = "mean_cl_boot", colour = "red", size = 2)
 #'
@@ -126,6 +127,7 @@
 #' m2 + coord_trans(y="log10")
 #' }
 #' }
+#' }
 stat_summary <- function(mapping = NULL, data = NULL,
                          geom = "pointrange", position = "identity",
                          ...,
diff --git a/man/geom_hex.Rd b/man/geom_hex.Rd
index 97b41b321d..f856c1c813 100644
--- a/man/geom_hex.Rd
+++ b/man/geom_hex.Rd
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ Learn more about setting these aesthetics in \code{vignette("ggplot2-specs")}.
 }
 
 \examples{
+if (!requireNamespace("hexbin", quietly = TRUE)) {
 d <- ggplot(diamonds, aes(carat, price))
 d + geom_hex()
 
@@ -131,6 +132,7 @@ d + geom_hex(binwidth = c(1, 1000))
 d + geom_hex(binwidth = c(.1, 500))
 }
 }
+}
 \seealso{
 \code{\link[=stat_bin2d]{stat_bin2d()}} for rectangular binning
 }
diff --git a/man/stat_summary.Rd b/man/stat_summary.Rd
index cdae9a3093..375b299801 100644
--- a/man/stat_summary.Rd
+++ b/man/stat_summary.Rd
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ If no aggregation functions are supplied, will default to
 }
 
 \examples{
+if (requireNamespace("Hmisc", quietly = TRUE)) {
 d <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(cyl, mpg)) + geom_point()
 d + stat_summary(fun.data = "mean_cl_boot", colour = "red", size = 2)
 
@@ -262,6 +263,7 @@ m2 + coord_trans(y="log10")
 }
 }
 }
+}
 \seealso{
 \code{\link[=geom_errorbar]{geom_errorbar()}}, \code{\link[=geom_pointrange]{geom_pointrange()}},
 \code{\link[=geom_linerange]{geom_linerange()}}, \code{\link[=geom_crossbar]{geom_crossbar()}} for geoms to
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-stat-summary.R b/tests/testthat/test-stat-summary.R
index 5f8cc4b4fd..8f5e62f161 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-stat-summary.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-stat-summary.R
@@ -80,3 +80,18 @@ test_that("stat_summary_(2d|hex) work with lambda expressions", {
   )
 
 })
+
+test_that("stat_summary() errors when check_installed() fails (#4736)", {
+  fun1 <- function(...) {
+    stop("usual error")
+  }
+
+  fun2 <- function(...) {
+    check_installed("nosuchpackage")
+  }
+
+  p <- ggplot(data.frame(x = 1), aes(x, x))
+
+  expect_warning(expect_error(ggplot_build(p + stat_summary(fun.data = fun1)), NA))
+  expect_error(ggplot_build(p + stat_summary(fun.data = fun2)), class = "rlib_error_package_not_found")
+})