Uber Driver Sexual Assault Statistics & Reports

The reality of sexual assault within Uber’s platform far exceeds what the company has publicly acknowledged, with internal documents revealing that Uber received approximately 400,181 reports of sexual assault allegations or misconduct between 2017 and 2022—averaging one report every eight minutes across the United States.

This staggering figure dwarfs the 12,522 “serious” incidents the company chose to disclose in its official safety reports during the same period, exposing a systematic underreporting that has left riders and drivers unaware of the true risks they face when using the Uber app.

The discrepancy between these numbers represents not just statistical manipulation but real human suffering—hundreds of thousands of survivors whose experiences were deemed unworthy of public acknowledgment while the company marketed itself as the safest transportation option available based on their business model.

Breakdown of Reported Sexual Assault Categories in Uber Vehicles

The categorization system Uber employs for tracking sexual assault incidents reveals both the severity and breadth of violations occurring on its platform, with the company publicly reporting only five categories while internally documenting at least 21 different types of sexual misconduct including inappropriate comments.

Uber publicly acknowledges only five severe categories of sexual assault, despite tracking 21 types internally:

• Non-consensual sexual penetration (rape)
• Attempted non-consensual sexual penetration
• Non-consensual touching of a sexual body part
• Non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part
• Non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), false reporting of sexual assault remains extremely rare at only 2-8% of cases, yet Uber failed to audit most reports, using the unaudited nature to suggest some may be mistaken or fraudulent.

The distribution of incidents across these categories shows that women comprise approximately 81% of rape victims and 75% of all sexual assault victims on the platform, while men represent 15% of victims—nearly double from earlier reports, with some cases involving situations where an Uber driver sexually assaulted male passengers.

Riders were victims in 91% of rape cases, though Uber drivers also face risks, accounting for 7-9% of sexual assault victims, including female drivers who have reported being assaulted by passengers.

Beyond these five categories, Uber internally tracks thousands of additional reports involving masturbation, threats of sexual violence, inappropriate touching, verbal harassment, and other criminal conduct that the company classifies as “less serious.”

These incidents, which numbered approximately 300,000 of the 400,181 total reports from 2017-2022, include behaviors that constitute criminal offenses in many jurisdictions yet were systematically excluded from public safety reports.

The company’s internal brainstorming documents from 2021 revealed their approach to categorization aimed “not to be the police” but rather to “protect the company and set the tolerable risk level for operations” while managing their legal process.

If you or a loved one were sexually assaulted or faced sexual misconduct during an Uber ride, you may be eligible to seek compensation.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive an instant case evaluation and determine whether you qualify to join others in filing an Uber Sexual Assault Lawsuit today.

Year-Over-Year Trends in Uber Sexual Assault Reports (2017-2025)

The progression of sexual assault reports on Uber’s platform from 2017 through 2025 reveals disturbing patterns that contradict the company’s narrative of improved safety through enhanced safety measures, with internal data showing dramatic increases even as public reports suggested declining incident rates.

In 2017 alone, internal documents reveal approximately 70,000 incidents of sexual assault or misconduct, a figure that climbed to more than 85,000 by 2024 according to plaintiff attorneys representing victims who seek justice in the ongoing Uber sexual assault litigation.

The company’s public safety reports painted a vastly different picture: 5,981 reports for 2017-2018 combined (with 3,045 in 2018 alone), dropping to 3,824 reports for 2019-2020, and further declining to 2,717 for 2021-2022.

The pandemic year of 2020 saw 998 total incidents including 141 rapes, despite ridership falling from 1.4 billion trips in 2019 to just 650 million—suggesting the rate of incidents per trip may have actually increased during certain periods when Uber’s conduct showed insufficient adaptation to changing safety needs.

Uber claims a 38% decrease in the rate of sexual assault reports between their first and second safety reports, but plaintiffs argue this reduction primarily resulted from decreased ridership during COVID-19 rather than improved safety measures to protect passengers.

The U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics notes that in 2020 violent crime nationally increased by nearly 30% in certain categories, with rideshare platforms reflecting similar trends despite lower overall usage.

The surge in lawsuit filings tells its own story about the crisis, with many survivors deciding to sue Uber after years of trauma.

In September 2024 alone, 878 new rideshare sexual assault lawsuits were filed against Uber, bringing the total number of plaintiffs in the Uber sexual assault MDL to over 2,500 by September 2025.

The MDL case count jumped from just 387 in August 2024 to 1,263 by September, then surged past 2,583 as more survivors came forward seeking justice through the legal system.

California state court proceedings are handling an additional 679 cases through the Judicial Council Coordination Proceedings (JCCP), with the first bellwether trial beginning September 23, 2025.

Monthly filing rates sometimes exceed 800 new cases in the Uber MDL, with survivors seeking Uber sexual assault settlement compensation, indicating that despite Uber’s claims of safety improvements, survivors continue to experience assaults at alarming rates.

The timing of these filings, clustered years after many incidents occurred, reflects the trauma and time survivors need before feeling ready to pursue legal action—a reality that suggests current incident numbers may be substantially underreported.

Comparing Uber’s Public Disclosures vs. Internal Data

The massive gulf between Uber’s public safety reports and internal data exposes a deliberate strategy to minimize the appearance of risk while maximizing ridership and revenue, with the company possessing detailed knowledge about assault patterns that it chose not to share with the public.

Internal documents obtained through litigation reveal that Uber received 400,181 reports of sexual assault or misconduct from 2017-2022, yet publicly disclosed only 12,522 incidents classified as “serious” during this same period.

This means approximately 387,659 reports—representing 97% of all incidents—were hidden from public view through a classification system that deemed them “less serious” despite many involving criminal conduct.

The company justified this by claiming incidents like masturbation, threats of sexual violence, inappropriate touching, and verbal harassment didn’t warrant the same attention as the five most severe categories.

Most damning is Uber’s knowledge that serious sexual assault reports were approximately four times higher when women riders were paired with male drivers—vital safety information the company possessed but never publicly disclosed, failing to properly screen drivers who posed heightened risks.

Internal safety teams pushed for features to address this risk, including gender-matching options and mandatory cameras, but executives repeatedly rejected or delayed implementation citing business concerns about their independent contractors model.

The Federal Trade Commission requires companies to provide accurate information to consumers about safety risks, yet Uber continued marketing itself as offering “safe rides home” while withholding data showing one report of sexual misconduct every eight minutes.

The company’s approach to data classification served multiple purposes:

• Minimizing legal liability by acknowledging fewer incidents
• Maintaining public confidence in platform safety
• Avoiding regulatory scrutiny that might require costly safety measures
• Protecting the independent contractor model by not requiring safety equipment

Internal brainstorming documents from 2021 explicitly stated that Uber’s goal was to “set the tolerable risk level for operations” rather than eliminate sexual assault entirely, with Uber’s legal team advising on acceptable exposure levels.

This calculated acceptance of “tolerable” sexual violence stands in stark contrast to the company’s public messaging that “even one report is one report too many.”

If you experienced any form of sexual assault or misconduct in an Uber vehicle, TruLaw partners with litigation leaders to provide you with the legal resources and support necessary for a successful outcome.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive an instant case evaluation and explore your Uber Sexual Assault Lawsuit options today.

Uber’s three official U.S. Safety Reports—published in 2019, 2022, and 2024—present a carefully curated narrative of platform safety that obscures the true scope of sexual violence through selective data presentation and statistical manipulation.

While the company frames incidents as “statistically rare” at less than 1% of rides, this mathematical sleight of hand conceals the reality that thousands of Uber passengers and drivers experience traumatic assaults annually.

The methodology behind these reports reveals more about corporate damage control than genuine transparency, with the company choosing to audit only incidents it deems “serious” while dismissing hundreds of thousands of other reports as unworthy of rigorous review or public disclosure.

Examining Uber’s 2021-2022 Safety Report Findings

The 2,717 individual reports of sexual assault documented in Uber’s most recent safety report for 2021-2022 represent only a fraction of the actual incidents during this period, yet even this limited disclosure reveals disturbing patterns about assault dynamics on the platform.

The distribution across the five severity categories shows a persistent crisis of sexual violence, with 285 incidents of non-consensual sexual penetration (rape) representing over 10% of reported assaults, including cases involving a young woman attacked after requesting what she believed would be safe transportation.

Women comprised 89% of rape victims during this period, while the broader victim demographics show women accounting for approximately 81% of all sexual assault victims, men representing 15%—nearly double from the 7% reported in earlier years—and non-binary individuals facing disproportionate risks relative to their presence on the platform.

Uber drivers were the accused party in 56% of sexual assault incidents across all categories, though riders were accused in 43% of cases, challenging the common assumption that drivers are always the perpetrators.

In rape cases specifically, riders were victims in 91% of incidents, with drivers accounting for 7% and the remaining 2% involving third parties.

The data reveals that riders were accused parties in 45% of cases in 2017-2018, suggesting minimal change in perpetrator patterns despite the company’s claimed safety improvements.

Uber touts that their motor vehicle fatality rate is half the national average while claiming sexual assault rates decreased by 44% from 2017-2022, metrics that Uber sexual assault attorneys challenge as misleading.

However, this supposed improvement coincided with a pandemic-driven ridership decline that makes rate comparisons misleading.

The company’s statement that “even one serious safety incident is unacceptable” rings hollow when internal documents reveal executives setting what they called a “tolerable risk level for operations” rather than pursuing zero tolerance.

The report published in August 2024 notably arrived only after mounting legal pressure from the MDL proceedings and increasing Uber lawsuits, suggesting reactive disclosure rather than proactive transparency.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, effective violence prevention requires comprehensive data collection and honest assessment of risk factors—standards Uber’s selective reporting fails to meet.

If you or a loved one experienced sexual assault during an Uber ride, regardless of whether it falls into the company’s “serious” categories, you may have legal options for seeking justice and compensation.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive an instant case evaluation and learn about filing an Uber assault lawsuit today.

Thorough Analysis of Uber’s Safety Metrics and Reporting Methods

The methodology Uber employs to calculate and present safety statistics reveals a deliberate strategy to minimize the perceived risk of sexual assault while maintaining plausible corporate responsibility claims.

Uber’s claim of “99.9% safety” masks troubling realities through these deceptive practices:

• Dividing incidents by 6.3 billion total trips from 2017-2022
• Claiming this makes assault “exceptionally rare”
• Ignoring that this still represents over 400,000 harmful incidents
• Failing to acknowledge that each incident represents lasting trauma and potential physical injuries

The company’s decision to audit and publicly report only the “five most severe categories” while classifying approximately 387,659 other reports as “less serious” demonstrates selective transparency designed to manage public perception rather than address Uber’s sexual assault problem comprehensively.

These excluded incidents—including masturbation, threats of sexual violence, inappropriate touching, and verbal harassment—constitute criminal offenses in many jurisdictions yet receive no rigorous vetting or public acknowledgment.

The unaudited nature of most reports allows Uber to suggest some may be false or mistaken, with company representatives claiming riders on the Uber platform submit fraudulent reports seeking refunds.

Yet according to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), only 310 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults are reported to authorities, and false reporting remains extremely rare at 2-8% of cases.

The suggestion that a meaningful percentage of Uber’s 400,000+ reports are fraudulent contradicts established research on sexual assault reporting patterns.

The company’s safety report releases follow a predictable pattern of external pressure rather than proactive transparency:

• First report in 2019 came after years of lawsuits and media scrutiny from outlets including The New York Times
• Second report in 2022 coincided with California regulatory pressure
• Third report in 2024 arrived amid MDL proceedings with 2,500+ pending cases in federal courts
• Gaps of 2-3 years between reports despite claiming transparency commitment

Internal documents show Uber tracks 21 categories of sexual misconduct but publicly reports only five, a classification system developed with RALIANCE and the Urban Institute that the company selectively implements.

Impact of COVID-19 on Sexual Assault Rates in Ridesharing

The pandemic’s impact on Uber sexual assault statistics reveals how the company exploited reduced ridership to claim safety improvements while the per-trip risk of assault may have actually increased during certain periods.

In 2020, Uber recorded 998 total Uber sexual assaults including 141 rapes, despite ridership plummeting from 1.4 billion trips in 2019 to just 650 million—a 54% decrease in rides.

Simple mathematics shows that while absolute incident numbers declined, the rate of rape per million trips actually increased from approximately 0.10 in 2019 to 0.22 in 2020, more than doubling despite the company’s claims of improved safety.

The broader context of pandemic crime trends further undermines Uber’s narrative.

According to the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, violent crime nationally increased by nearly 30% in 2020, with researchers attributing this spike to pandemic stress, economic anxiety, and reduced public oversight.

The FBI and multiple academic studies confirmed this trend, with homicide rates reaching levels not seen since the late 1990s.

COVID-19 created unique conditions that amplified assault risks in rideshare vehicles:

• Late-night essential worker transportation with fewer witnesses
• Reduced oversight and public presence on roads
• Increased stress and aggression linked to pandemic conditions
• Higher proportion of intoxicated passengers due to isolation stress
• Fewer alternative transportation options forcing vulnerability

Uber’s second safety report acknowledged that “the impact of COVID-19 on sexual assault generally remains unclear” while simultaneously claiming a 38% decrease in assault rates.

This contradiction exposes how the company cherry-picks statistics to support predetermined narratives.

The report noted that government data revealed 2020 was the deadliest year on American roads since 2007, with risky behaviors like drunk driving and speeding increasing—conditions that correlate with sexual assault risk.

Internal data obtained through litigation shows that despite lower ridership, the company continued receiving reports approximately every eight minutes during peak pandemic months.

The concentration of incidents during a period of reduced rides suggests that Uber’s platform may have become more dangerous per trip even as total incidents declined—a reality the company’s percentage-based reporting deliberately obscures.

TruLaw partners with litigation leaders who hold Uber accountable for how corporate manipulation of safety statistics can obscure the true risks riders face.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to determine whether you qualify to join others in pursuing an Uber sexual abuse lawsuit today.

Our Uber sexual assault attorney at TruLaw is dedicated to supporting survivors through the process of filing an Uber class action lawsuit or individual case.

With extensive experience in personal injury and sexual assault litigation cases, Jessica Paluch-Hoerman and our partner law firms work with trauma experts and safety advocates to prove how Uber’s negligent safety practices and inadequate driver screening led to your harm.

TruLaw focuses on securing compensation for medical expenses, therapy costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other damages resulting from sexual assault or harassment during Uber rides.

We provide the compassionate, confidential guidance you need when seeking justice for the profound physical and emotional trauma that sexual assault survivors experience.

Meet the Lead Uber Sexual Assault Attorney at TruLaw

Meet our lead Uber sexual assault attorney:

• Jessica Paluch-Hoerman: As founder and managing attorney of TruLaw, Jessica brings her extensive experience in personal injury litigation and victim advocacy to her client-centered approach by prioritizing confidentiality, compassion, and personalized attention with survivors. Through TruLaw and partner law firms, Jessica has helped collect over $3 billion on behalf of injured individuals across all 50 states through verdicts and negotiated settlements.

How much does hiring an Uber sexual assault lawyer from TruLaw cost?

At TruLaw, we believe financial concerns should never stand in the way of justice.

That’s why we operate on a contingency fee basis—with this approach, you only pay legal fees after you’ve been awarded compensation for your injuries.

If you or a loved one experienced sexual assault, sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact, or other forms of sexual violence during an Uber ride, you may be eligible to seek compensation.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive an instant case evaluation and determine whether you qualify to join others in filing an Uber Sexual Assault Lawsuit today.

Uber sexual assault lawsuits are being filed by survivors across the country who experienced sexual assault, sexual harassment, or other forms of sexual violence during Uber rides.

TruLaw is currently accepting clients for the Uber sexual assault lawsuit.

A few reasons to choose TruLaw for your Uber sexual assault lawsuit include:

• If We Don’t Win, You Don’t Pay: The Uber sexual assault lawyers at TruLaw and our partner firms operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning we only get paid if you win.
• Expertise: We have decades of experience handling personal injury and sexual assault cases similar to the Uber lawsuit.
• Successful Track Record: TruLaw and our partner law firm have helped our clients recover billions of dollars in compensation through verdicts and negotiated settlements.

If you or a loved one experienced sexual assault, sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact, or other forms of sexual violence during an Uber ride, you may be eligible to seek compensation.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive an instant case evaluation that can determine if you qualify to join others in filing an Uber Sexual Assault Lawsuit today.