One beef with transportation network companies is that the background checks they perform on drivers aren’t sufficiently stringent. Now San Francisco’s Uber — which failed to find disturbing information about at least two drivers involved in horrific incidents — is getting tougher with how it vets the folks who carry passengers in their cars.

Uber today said it is expanding its background checks to pick up records missed by the Multi-State Criminal Database used by Hirease, which does its vetting. Not all counties provide records to that database. It said:

All new drivers in all American markets will undergo federal and county background checks, on top of the existing Multi-State Criminal Database check. This expanded program also involves running county and federal background checks on all existing rideshare partners who have not yet cleared these additional checks.

Syed Muzaffar, the UberX driver arrested for hitting and killing 6-year-old Sofia Liu on New Year’s Eve, had a reckless driving record from almost 10 years ago. He was arrested in Florida for driving into oncoming traffic at 100 mph while trying to pass another car. His wife and children were in the car, according to the arrest record. Uber’s failure to uncover that features in the Liu family’s lawsuit, which charges Uber with negligent hiring and negligence with a motor vehicle, as well as wrongful death.

However, Uber’s new approach still would not have uncovered that record. Under California law, Hirease and other consumer reporting agencies can only report records from the past seven years.

In another incident, Pando Daily unearthed evidence that a San Francisco driver who allegedly cursed at and hit a passenger in December had a criminal history, including prison time for at least one felony conviction within the past few years (fewer than seven), yet had passed the company’s vetting process.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.