Rideshare Assault Statistics: What Uber and Lyft’s Own Numbers Show

TL;DR: Uber and Lyft say the number of assaults is going down, but every year, rideshare assault statistics show thousands of reported incidents. California isn’t buying the official story, and recent state figures tell a much bigger tale. Here’s what the numbers actually show, and what they leave out.

You hear rideshare assault statistics all the time, but most of the stats come from Uber and Lyft themselves. Uber says assaults hardly ever happen. Lyft says it too. Technically, they’re both right. Still, if you add up their numbers, it means thousands of people are getting hurt every year.

So what numbers should you believe? Since 2019, Uber and Lyft have put out their own safety reports. They break down sexual assault cases by year and type. But California officials want more details. They’ve even fined Uber tens of millions because the company didn’t turn over everything.

Let’s pull back the curtain on these numbers, see what’s missing, and find out why it could make a big difference if you ever need to speak up after a rideshare ride goes wrong.

Uber has published three official U.S. Safety Reports since 2019. Here’s what the trend looks like. Back in 2017 and 2018, Uber said there were 5,981 sexual assault cases. That number dropped to 3,824 in 2019 and 2020. For 2021 and 2022, it fell again to 2,717.

Uber points to a 38% drop between its first and second reports. The company also says these cases make up less than one percent of all rides. Both of those things are true. But they don’t tell you anything about what happened to those thousands of people. And they definitely don’t show how many other cases were never reported in the first place

Lyft took longer to share its own numbers. The first Community Safety Report came out in 2021, with a second one dropping in July 2024.

The pattern is a lot like Uber’s. Lyft counted 4,158 sexual assault cases from 2017 to 2019. For 2020 through 2022, that number went down to 2,651. That’s about a one-third drop. But here’s the catch. Fewer people were riding during the pandemic, so it’s tough to compare the two reports side by side.

Lyft says these cases are “statistically rare.” But rare doesn’t mean zero. And it definitely doesn’t mean every case gets counted.

California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office reviewed rideshare safety numbers while studying a 2026 ballot measure about driver background checks. They used reports that Uber and Lyft have to send to the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates rideshare operations statewide.

What they found was striking. Uber and Lyft told the CPUC about 20,000 assaults or harassment cases during the years reviewed. That’s way more than what you see in their national safety reports. The state doesn’t require the companies to say which cases were sexual assaults. So even regulators don’t get the full picture.

In 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office looked into how rideshare companies count and report assault cases across the country. Investigators found that the current system just doesn’t show the full story. That’s because companies get to decide what counts as a report in the first place.

This is why the sexual assault reports from Uber, or any rideshare app, are really just the minimum. Across the country, about two out of three sexual assaults never get reported at all. There’s no reason to think rideshare cases are any different. The public numbers are accurate. They’re also incomplete.

At Blair and Ramirez LLP, we handle rideshare cases and other sexual assault claims across Los Angeles. If a rideshare trip left you hurt, you can start with a free review to see what your options are.

Rideshare passenger assault trends become clearer when you compare both companies side by side. The rate of reported assaults per ride has gone down since 2019. Still, the number of cases stays in the thousands, year after year. Physical assaults haven’t dropped as quickly as sexual assaults. On top of that, fatal physical assaults on Lyft actually went up in the latest report.

These trends tell us more than any single year ever could. All the new safety tools and screening changes haven’t fixed the core problem. In some areas, they’ve shifted it.

A bunch of numbers on a safety report won’t file a claim for you, and they can’t force a company to answer for what happened. But these numbers do show patterns, and patterns matter in court. If a rideshare company knew something in its screening process wasn’t working and kept sending out drivers anyway, that may be relevant in evaluating if the company was careless.

Here at Blair & Ramirez LLP, we use this kind of data when we build a case for someone who’s been hurt. Our team looks at the same safety reports and filings you’ve read about here.

Behind every number in a safety report is a person who trusted someone else to get them home safe.

We offer free consultations to rideshare assault survivors. We’ll review your situation, answer all your questions, and explain your options clearly. You deserve to move forward with confidence.

Book your free case review.

• Uber and Lyft say sexual assault numbers are dropping, but the count is still in the thousands every year.
• California’s own review found about 20,000 reported assaults and harassment cases. This number is way more than what the companies admit in their public reports.
• The numbers you see are almost always lower than what’s really happening, because many cases never get reported at all.
• If a company’s own reports show problems, that pattern can help your case. Not just against the driver, but the company itself.