Quick answer
Uber is generally safe, and as a passenger you are well covered: California requires $1,000,000 in liability coverage while you are in the car (Public Utilities Code 5433), and Uber owes you the heightened duty of a common carrier. If you are hurt, you can claim against Uber's policy or the at-fault driver's insurer. Match the plate, car, and driver photo before you get in, share your trip, and screenshot the trip record right after any incident.
Rideshare passengers in California are owed a high duty of care, because a company carrying passengers for hire is a common carrier and must use the utmost care and diligence for their safe carriage. But one protection got substantially weaker on January 1, 2026: the uninsured motorist coverage a rideshare company must carry for passengers dropped from $1,000,000 to $60,000 per person.
B&D Injury Law Group represents rideshare passengers injured in California. This article explains what protections exist, what changed this year, and what the law does and does not currently establish about company responsibility for driver misconduct.
The Coverage Change Most Passengers Do Not Know About
California requires transportation network companies to carry specific insurance, set out in Public Utilities Code section 5433. While a passenger is in the vehicle, the company must carry $1,000,000 in liability coverage. That figure has not changed.
What changed is uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which is what responds when the driver who hits your rideshare vehicle has no insurance or not enough of it. Senate Bill 371, chaptered in October 2025 and operative January 1, 2026, amended section 5433(b)(2) to require UM and UIM coverage of $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle until the passenger exits.
The prior requirement was $1,000,000. The obligation is now solely the transportation network company’s rather than shared with the driver, and the law directs a joint study by the Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Insurance on whether the reduced limits remain appropriate, due at the end of 2030.
For a passenger seriously hurt by an uninsured driver while riding, this is a material reduction in available protection. It is worth knowing before you need it, and it is worth checking your own auto policy’s UM coverage, which may still respond as a passenger in someone else’s vehicle.
One caution: the Public Utilities Commission’s own webpage on TNC insurance requirements still displays the old $1,000,000 UM figure and cites a superseded code section. The statute controls, not the agency page.
The Insurance Layers, by Period
| Period | Situation | Required coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Driver logged on, no ride accepted | $50,000 per person / $100,000 per incident / $30,000 property damage, plus at least $200,000 excess per occurrence |
| Periods 2 and 3 | Ride accepted, driving to pick up, or passenger aboard | $1,000,000 liability |
| Period 3 only | Passenger in the vehicle | UM/UIM of $60,000 per person / $300,000 per incident |
As a passenger, you are in Period 3 for the entire ride, so the $1,000,000 liability layer applies if your driver causes the crash. If another motorist causes it, that motorist’s policy is the first source, and the UM/UIM layer is what fills the gap when their coverage is inadequate.
The Common Carrier Duty
California imposes a heightened standard on those who carry passengers for hire. Civil Code section 2100 provides that a carrier of persons for reward must use the utmost care and diligence for their safe carriage, must provide everything necessary for that purpose, and must exercise a reasonable degree of skill.
This is a demanding standard, meaningfully above ordinary reasonable care. In federal multidistrict litigation, Uber conceded common carrier status. California authority has long treated a common carrier’s duty as non-delegable, meaning the carrier cannot avoid responsibility by pointing out that performance was contracted to someone else.
For an ordinary collision claim, this is the most solid ground a passenger stands on.
Assault and Misconduct Claims: What Is Settled and What Is Not
This is an area where accuracy matters more than reassurance, and where a lot of published material overstates the law.
Reasonably settled. The common carrier duty applies, and it is non-delegable. Claims that a company was negligent in screening, monitoring, or responding to reports about a particular driver are recognized negligence theories.
Actively contested. Whether a rideshare company can be held vicariously liable for a driver’s intentional acts is genuinely unresolved and the courts have split. A California state court judge overseeing coordinated proceedings has held that a company could not be vicariously liable for drivers’ intentional torts, while the federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation has found that common carrier negligence claims can give rise to potential vicarious liability. That disagreement has not been resolved.
Split, with binding California authority on one side. For cases involving someone impersonating a rideshare driver, Jane Doe No. 1 v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (2022) 79 Cal.App.5th 410 is published California appellate authority holding that Uber owed no duty to protect riders from criminals posing as drivers, reasoning that the crime must be a necessary component of the business rather than merely facilitated by it. The Ninth Circuit reached a different conclusion in a later case, but that disposition is unpublished and non-precedential.
The honest summary is that several routes exist, the common carrier duty is the most solid, and the more aggressive theories are being litigated right now with inconsistent results.
Arbitration, and the Exception That Matters
Both companies’ rider terms contain arbitration agreements and class action waivers. For an ordinary injury claim, those clauses generally bind riders, and it would be wrong to suggest otherwise.
There is an important exception. Both Uber’s and Lyft’s current terms expressly exclude individual claims of sexual assault and sexual harassment from arbitration. That carve-out exists because of the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, codified at 9 U.S.C. sections 401 and 402, which took effect March 3, 2022 and allows a person asserting such a dispute to elect to void a pre-dispute arbitration agreement. It is not retroactive; the claim must have accrued or the dispute arisen on or after that date.
California appellate courts have read the federal statute to exempt the entire case from arbitration rather than only the covered claim. Doe v. Second Street Corp. (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 552 and Liu v. Miniso Depot CA, Inc. (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 791 both take that approach.
Practical Safety Steps
Verify before entering. Match the license plate, vehicle make and model, and the driver’s photo against the app. The imposter-driver case law described above is a reminder that this verification is the passenger’s own responsibility and that the legal remedy afterward is uncertain.
Share your trip. Both apps allow sharing live trip status with a contact, and it creates a contemporaneous record of your route as well as a safety measure.
Sit in the back, on the passenger side, which gives you two exit options and distance.
Keep the app record. After any incident, screenshot the trip detail, the driver’s name and photo, the vehicle, and the timestamps before the record scrolls out of easy reach. Report through the app, then keep your own copy of what you reported.
If you are hurt, get medical attention the same day and tell the provider it was a motor vehicle collision so the records reflect the mechanism.
Is Uber safe?
Rideshare travel carries the ordinary risks of any car trip plus the risk of traveling with a stranger. California responds by treating these companies as common carriers, which imposes a duty of utmost care toward passengers, and by requiring $1,000,000 in liability coverage while a passenger is aboard. Verifying the plate, vehicle and driver photo before entering remains the most useful individual precaution.
How much insurance covers me as a rideshare passenger?
While you are in the vehicle, $1,000,000 in liability coverage applies. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is now $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, reduced from $1,000,000 effective January 1, 2026 by Senate Bill 371.
Can I sue Uber or Lyft if my driver assaulted me?
Claims are brought, and the strongest footing is the heightened, non-delegable duty a common carrier owes passengers, along with claims that the company was negligent in screening or monitoring drivers or in responding to reports. Whether a company is vicariously liable for a driver’s intentional acts is contested and courts have reached different conclusions.
Am I forced into arbitration?
For an ordinary injury claim, the arbitration clause in the rider terms generally applies. Individual claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment are excluded, both by the companies’ own current terms and by federal law for claims arising on or after March 3, 2022.
What if someone was pretending to be my driver?
This is legally difficult in California. Published California appellate authority has held that a rideshare company owed no duty to protect riders from criminals posing as drivers. Other courts have disagreed, but the California decision is the binding published authority, which is why verifying the vehicle and driver before entering matters so much.
If you were injured as a rideshare passenger in California, the app record is the first thing to preserve. Learn more about rideshare accident claims, read about car accident cases, or contact B&D Injury Law Group for a free consultation.
This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. If you have been injured, speak with a licensed attorney about your specific situation.