Uber

Ride-Share Vehicles Dirtier Than Toilet Seats: Study

More than one in six vehicles operated by Uber and Lyft drivers has unrepaired defects covered by outstanding safety recalls

More than one in six vehicles operated by Uber and Lyft drivers has unrepaired defects covered by outstanding safety recalls, according to a new study cited by NBC News. And that's not the only disturbing news about your shared ride — a separate study shows that the interior of the vehicle is likely 35,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat.

For the "Driving with Germs" study, insurance aggregator Netquote took swabs to the main touchpoints in ride-sharing vehicles, taxis and rental cars — door handles, seat belts and window buttons. The ride-sharing services had an average of 6 million "colony-forming units" of bacteria per square inch on those surfaces, compared to 2 million for rental cars, and just 27,593 for the cabs Netquote tested.

To put those figures into perspective, there are 2 million CFUs on the average toothbrush holder, 32,000 on a coffeemaker, and just 171 per square inch on a toilet seat.

Contact Us