Everything Auto: Power Step for a Pickup Truck

I was testing some Dick Cepek mud tires on my F-250 last year so I took off the OEM chrome tube side steps for the photos. I really like the look of the truck without the steps, but other members of the family missed their functionality. I had to keep a short step ladder in the bed for when my mom needed a ride.

Enter AMP Research with a brilliant solution: the Power Step. Available through AMP Research (www.amp-research.com), the Power Step is a very well engineered system that uses heavy-duty motors to deploy the steps in less than a second when any door opens. The steps completely retract under the vehicle as soon as the door is closed.

“I kept hearing people complain about their running boards being awkward to use,” says inventor/designer Horst Leitner, “so we did some ergonomic research and studied people of various heights, weights and ages to come up with the perfect height and extension for a running board.” He adds, “The research said that most truck and SUV step boards are mounted too high and too close to the vehicle to provide a natural step.”

The key is the fact that the steps retract. They couldn’t be positioned as low or as far away from the vehicle if they didn’t tuck away while the truck is in operation. Now, I have the look I want on my truck (clean and lean), and everyone has a comfortable step for climbing aboard.

The components fit very well to the stock mounting points, the wiring harness was the right size for the crew cab, and the kit included some nice details such as butt connectors, cable ties and connecting wires.

The operation of the steps is just cool. When you open any door, the step on that side deploys very quickly so you don’t miss a step getting in. When the doors are closed and the steps are up you cannot see them, unless you happen to be two feet tall.

The Power Step costs about $1,200, and you can save yourself a couple of hundred dollars by installing it yourself. When ordering the kit, be sure to pursue any information available on AMP’s website about your specific truck model. You can download the installation guide and scroll down until you get to the wiring guide. Find the page that is specific to your truck and look for any additional kits required. In our case we needed some single diodes.