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A comment on Tesla owners locked out of their cars after app stopped working. Parent comment

Re:Tesla owners locked out of their cars after app stopped w... by unfoldedCravat on Wednesday September 04, 2019 @04:10AM (#20875017)
Most keyless start systems have a backup physical key[1] hidden inside the remote fob and will use very short range RFID [2] similar to older physical turn keys and their immobiliser chips to authenticate with the car ECU and allow the engine to start.

[1] https://static.cargurus.com/images/site/2016/03/21/20/42/pic...

[2] https://www.mazda3revolution.com/threads/if-the-battery-in-t...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Tesla owners locked out of their cars after app stopped w... by xedeon on Wednesday September 04, 2019 @10:53PM (#20883472)
I'm aware of this as I have owned cars with this feature. Modern cars do not use the physical key to "start". It's mostly only to open the driver side door.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BttKQ6K-Y74

RFID/NFC is used to actually start the car like you pointed out.

On all current Tesla cars, they fobs and keycards can both unlock and start the car, making a physical key pointless.

[ Parent | on HN ]