I'm not 100% sure, but it's my understanding the LR4 design for crash certification starts with the original classification date, and is grand-fathered in... e.g., once certified, it doesn't require re-certification when new laws change or go into effect until the vehicle is redesigned within a cycle limitation. The side-steps are absolutely horrendous regardless how much one can spin/or justify otherwise. We are taking safety to a new level of stupidity. Are we really facing a new era where vehicles need to be set at a low-safe ride height now? Why isn't JEEP affected by this? Or the Toyota Land Cruiser, if in fact this is true?
From other examples it doesn't look like there is a Grandfather clause when it comes to Federal Side Impact regulations. Case in point, Aston Martin almost stopped selling it's most popular models but managed an exemption from NHTSA
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/02/aston-martin-exemption-safety-standards-report/