Uber is in hot water… again. 

According to The New York Times, the rideshare app’s criminal background checks are failing to screen out customers with criminal backgrounds. 

The Times reports that drivers with serious criminal histories were let onto the app. In multiple instances, riders later accused them of sexual assault, according to internal records and court documents. 

The incidents add to a long-running pattern of sexual violence in Uber rides, where the company has received reports of sexual assault or misconduct roughly every few minutes in the United States.

In 35 states, Uber’s standard screening considers only where a person has lived over the past seven years, potentially missing crimes committed elsewhere. Execs debated tightening the rules and expanding the list of offenses that would automatically bar drivers, but ultimately chose not to, even as internal safety staff warned the system was not doing enough. 

“We are def not doing everything we can,” a senior safety communications leader wrote in a 2018 email about the background checks.

Internal messaging about background checks attempted to strike a balance, telling riders that “no background check [is] perfect” while casting Uber as working to keep dangerous people off the platform without shutting out those “who deserve a chance.” 

But the Times investigation found that gaps in screening meant some drivers with violent felony convictions were still cleared to pick up passengers.

“They should hold their drivers to a high standard, knowing they are putting them in situations with vulnerable people who trust them and trust that Uber has checked them,” said Erin Murphy, a Boston prosecutor handling multiple sexual assault cases involving ride-hailing drivers.

Lyft, Uber’s competitor, is also being called out. Although the company has implemented stricter background checks to ensure customer safety, some drivers have slipped through the cracks.

Both companies now face thousands of sexual assault lawsuits from passengers around the country.

In a separate inquiry, a House subcommittee said Uber’s own data showed sexual assault or misconduct reports numbering in the hundreds of thousands between 2017 and 2022, far more than the company had publicly disclosed.