Google Maps Autocomplete returns wrong short_name for country

Question

I have a problem with the Google Maps Autocomplete. When selecting an entry from the dropdown I want to get the detailed data using autocomplete.getData().

In detail I need the country code, which is normally sent in the "short_name" attribute of the "country" type.

Sometimes this doesn't work and I get the normal country name in the "short_name" field, which breaks my programming.

I can confirm this using a Service call like this:

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=%C3%96sterreich&key=MY_KEY

And I get this result:

{
   "results" : [
      {
         "address_components" : [
            {
               "long_name" : "Österreich",
               "short_name" : "Österreich",
               "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
            }
         ],
         ...
         "place_id" : "ChIJfyqdJZsHbUcRr8Hk3XvUEhA",
         "types" : [ "country", "political" ]
      }
   ],
   "status" : "OK"
}

According to the Google documentation, the value of the "short_name" should not be "Österreich" (Austria) but the Code "AT".

Is this a change in the Google APIs? Any other cause for this behaviour known?