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As useful as the sidesteps have been discovered a significant problem this evening. While parking on an uneven grassy incline at the local park I heard a loud scrape. Two gouges were in the ground on either side of the car. The brackets beneath the side steps had hit the ground. The brackets sit very low with the result that fairly mild undulations will cause them to scrape the ground. No damage was done but if it had been hard rocky ground, then something would have bent (brackets or chassis mounting points).
Much like the cargo net, I feel this is an owner issue. If you can't find a safe way to maintain ground clearance, that is on you, not the car. I would recommend learning to stagger when clearance is an issue.
To be honest, the total ground clearance of the car does not change with the side steps. If you look under the car, you can see there is a straight line from the side step brackets on one side of the car, to the bottom of the center exhaust box, to the bracket on the other side of the car.