Remote keyless system

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A remote control for a keyless entry system built into an ignition key. Pressing a button on the key unlocks all of the car doors. Another button locks the car.





One of the first introductions was in 1980 on the Ford Thunderbird, Mercury Cougar, Lincoln Continental Mark VI, and Lincoln Town Car, which Ford called Keyless Entry System (later renamed SecuriCode). It was a keypad on the driver-side exterior door above the door handle. It consisted of a keypad with five buttons that when the code was entered, would unlock the driver's door, with subsequent code entries to unlock all doors, and the trunk. Nissan offered the same technology on the Nissan Maxima and Nissan Fairlady beginning in 1984, essentially using the same approach as Ford, with the addition of being able to roll the windows down and open the optional moonroof from outside the vehicle on the door handle installed keypad on both the driver's and front passengers door.

The remote keyless systems using a handheld transmitter first began appearing on the French made Renault Fuego in 1982,[2] and as an option on several American Motors vehicles in 1983, including the Renault Alliance. The feature gained its first widespread availability in the U.S. on several General Motors vehicles in 1989.[citation needed]


Keyless remotes contain a short-range radio transmitter, and must be within a certain range, usually 5–20 meters, of the car to work. When a button is pushed, it sends a coded signal by radio waves to a receiver unit in the car, which locks or unlocks the door. Most RKEs operate at a frequency of 315 MHz for North America-made cars and at 433.92 MHz for European, Japanese and Asian cars. Modern systems implement encryption to prevent car thieves from intercepting and spoofing the signal.[citation needed] Earlier systems used infrared instead of radio signals to unlock the vehicle, such as systems found on Mercedes-Benz,[3] BMW[4] and other manufacturers.


The functions of a remote keyless entry system are contained on a key fob or built into the ignition key handle itself. Buttons are dedicated to locking or unlocking the doors and opening the trunk or tailgate. On some minivans, the power sliding doors can be opened/closed remotely. Some cars will also close any open windows and roof when remotely locking the car. Some remote keyless fobs also feature a red panic button which activates the car alarm as a standard feature. Further adding to the convenience, some cars' engines with remote keyless ignition systems can be started by the push of a button on the key fob, and convertible tops can be raised and lowered from outside the vehicle while it's parked.





As RKS fobs have become more prevalent in the automobile industry a secondary market of unprogrammed devices has sprung up. Some web sites sell steps to program fobs for individual models of cars as well as accessory kits to remotely activate other car devices. Many sites, provide RKS fob programming instructions for free.

On early (1998-2012) keyless entry remotes, the remotes can be individually programmed by the user, by pressing a button on the remote, and starting the vehicle. However, newer (2013+) keyless entry remotes require dealership or locksmith programming via a computer. The Infrared keyless entry systems offered user programming, though radio frequency keyless entry systems mostly require dealer programming.

Smart key[edit]

See also: Smart key


With the smart key system, a vehicle can be unlocked without the driver needing to physically push a button on the key fob to lock or unlock the car and is also able to start or stop the ignition without physically having to insert the key and turning the ignition. Instead, as approach the vehicle, the vehicle senses that the key (located in a pocket, purse, etc.) is approaching the vehicle. When the key fob is within the car's required "bubble" distance, there are two methods typically used by auto manufacturers to unlock the doors:





Keyless ignition does not by default provide better security. In October 2014, it was found that some insurers in the UK would not insure certain vehicles with keyless ignition unless there were additional mechanical locks in place due to weaknesses in the keyless system.[5]

Criminals have managed to open cars by using signal boosters to trick vehicles into thinking that keyless entry fobs to their locks are close by even when they are far away. Keeping fobs in aluminum foil or a freezer when not in use can prevent criminals from doing so.[6]

In 2015, it was reported that Samy Kamkar had built an inexpensive electronic device about the size of a wallet that could be concealed on or near a locked vehicle to capture a single keyless entry code to be used at a later time to unlock the vehicle. The device transmits a jamming signal to block the vehicle's reception of rolling code signals from the owner's fob, while recording these signals from both of his two attempts needed to unlock the vehicle. The recorded first code is sent to the vehicle only when the owner makes the second attempt, while the recorded second code is retained for future use. Kamkar stated that this vulnerability had been widely known for years to be present in many vehicle types, but was previously undemonstrated.[7] A demonstration was announced for DEF CON 23.[8]

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