By Shant Karnikian
How did we get around before rideshare apps? A time before a few taps on a smartphone could bring a ride to you in minutes, pay for it, and rate the driver with stars.
Since exploding onto the scene about 15 years ago, ridesharing has completely reshaped travel—it’s easy, fast, affordable, and convenient.
Uber is by far the biggest player in the ride-hailing market, with a 76% share. Uber operates in 15,000 cities in the US alone; worldwide, as of 2025, it has 161 million active monthly users, representing a 14% year-over-year increase.
Unfortunately, Uber has long been plagued by reports of sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
Currently, national multidistrict litigation (MDL) is underway in the U.S., consolidating over 2300 sexual assault cases against Uber. There are also over 600 active suits in California state court (coordinated under JCCP).
The suits contend that Uber has ignored red flags, failed to adequately screen drivers, neglected to implement measures to bolster safety, and prioritized profit over the safety of its riders.
And now, Uber faces accusations that it has knowingly, vastly underplayed the problem for years, failing to disclose the true scale of its trip-related sexual assault issue.
According to a New York Times exposé last month, Uber’s Festering Sexual Assault Problem:
“Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022, sealed court records show, a level far more pervasive than what the company has disclosed….Uber has not released data for the years since then, though the court records indicate reports of incidents have increased.”
Big business, big numbers, big crisis.
In the U.S., Uber makes over 30 million trips daily. According to Uber, 99.9% of those rides are completed with no report of a problem. Given the scale of Uber’s business, however, even a small fraction of a percentage of rides amounts to an enormous number of sexual assault incidents.
According to the New York Times, Uber’s own safety report had previously disclosed 12,522 accounts of “serious” sexual assaults taking place between 2017 and 2022. According to Uber, serious sexual assault incidents include: “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part; attempted non-consensual sexual penetration; non-consensual touching of a sexual body part; non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part; and non-consensual sexual penetration.”
However, court documents now show that during that time period, 400,181 Uber trips resulted in reports of sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
In a statement to the New York Times, Hannah Nilles, Uber’s head of safety for the Americas, argued that about 75 percent of the 400,181 reports were “less serious,” and included behaviors like vulgar language, flirting, or commenting on someone’s appearance. Nilles acknowledged that “There is no ‘tolerable’ level of sexual assault,” but added that the reports were unaudited and some may be false or incorrect, perhaps submitted in an attempt to get a refund.
The company admits that as ridership has gone up, so have reports of assault. Still, Uber says they expect that their next safety report – based on data from 2023 onward – will demonstrate that rates of “critical sexual assault” have fallen below levels from 2017.
Nonetheless, the Times says, Uber employees recognize that sexual assault and sexual misconduct are likely underreported due to shame and intimidation felt by victims, as well as safety concerns – after all, drivers may know where their victims live or hang out.
According to Uber’s internal documents, the Times reported, Uber sexual assaults tend to follow certain patterns: most victims are women (driver or passenger), attacked late at night or on weekends, and rides typically originate near a bar. Assailants are usually men (driver or passenger) with low ratings in the app and previous sexual misconduct complaints. Intoxication increases the risk of attack.
Rideshare attacks may be statistically rare, but that’s little comfort to survivors. Sexual violence and misconduct are devastating – victims may suffer long-term physical, emotional, and psychological scars.
Even one sexual assault in an Uber is too many. Survivors deserve justice, and riders deserve to feel safe when they open the app and the car door.
If you or someone you love has experienced sexual assault, harassment, or any type of attack in an Uber, the experienced and compassionate attorneys at KBK are here to help.