I will be using my truck for some light offroad use in the future and as of now, the truck is being built with the chrome angular step boards which are not powered. I was thinking about ditching them and adding the AMP Research power boards in the future but I have a question and I am wondering if anyone has had any issues. While offroading and I happen to high center or park my truck on the crest of a steep hill, what happens when I open the door? Wont the steps power open and mess them up? Or does it act like a garage door and retract when it hits an object? I could also just say screw it and keep the non powered boards.
Honestly, I would like to ditch running boards completely but I have problems with short people/ kids/ and chicks wearing out my leather seats because they are not quite tall enough to get in without sliding into the seat. Eventually, it wears them out...

 

They will just stop if they hit resistance.

 

I had retractable boards on my 07 Chevy. There was a switch on the dash that would disable them. I would hit that when it was parked for a while (camping) and there was a lot of door opening during the day.

I also learned that taking the truck on a wet dirt road will jam them. Make sure you carry a decent sized flat bladed screw driver to knock the grit out of the hinges. Nothing sounds worse than your boards trying to extend and hearing crunching noises from the mechanism.

So on the F150 I opted for the fixed chrome boards. No mechanism issues on dirt roads and they do help protect the body from flying gravel.

 

The Amp Research PowerStep will not grind. They will sense resistance or obstruction and just stop.

 

The resistance was the grinding and they did stop. I assume that any power boards will try to at least push past the resistance of water and some road grime.

There was also the common question of how you kept them extended when parked so you could perch on them and wash your truck. One answer is to stand on the board when the door is open and then close the door. The board will not retract with weight on it. The poster that mentioned that solution had also had his replaced three times. So I do not know if that is the best solution.

 

They will stop pushing at slightest resistance.

Standing on them to keep them open does not damage the motors and is not a problem.

 

Control of the ford steps is inside the dash LCD. Not sure if the amp direct boards will activate that.

 

No, they will not.

 

You can also disable them from deploying using the menu.

 

You will more likely bend or damage the stock running board while off-roading. I've already seen a couple 4x4's with bent steps. The AMP power boards are not as easily damaged because they don't hang as low.