Passive Keyless Entry + Push Start: The Feature That Makes You Stop Touching Anything
By Irina Gedarevich · Digital Guard Dawg Technical Team
7/23/2026
Walk toward the car with your hands full. The doors unlock. The alarm disarms. You get in, press a button, and drive. You get out, walk away, and behind you the doors lock and the alarm arms itself.
You never pressed a fob. You never turned a key. You never touched anything but the start button.
That's passive keyless entry — PKE, or what luxury manufacturers market as "keyless go" — and it's the single feature that separates a push button start kit from a genuinely modern driving experience.
Most aftermarket kits don't have it. Here's how it works and which ones do.
Passive vs. active: the distinction that matters
Active keyless entry is what most people already have. You press a button on a fob and the doors unlock. It's remote control. You're still operating a device.
Passive keyless entry removes the device from the interaction entirely. The fob stays in your pocket. The vehicle continuously watches for it, recognizes it when you get close, and acts on its own.
The system distinguishes approach from departure, so the behavior is symmetric:
|
You do this |
The vehicle does this |
|
Walk toward it |
Unlocks the doors, disarms the alarm |
|
Get in and press the button |
Starts the engine |
|
Press the button again |
Shuts down |
|
Walk away |
Locks the doors, arms the alarm, immobilizes the ignition |
The security argument nobody makes loudly enough
PKE gets sold as a convenience feature. It's actually a security feature, and this is the reason:
It is impossible to forget to arm it.
Every alarm ever built depends on a human remembering to press a button. Humans reliably don't — in a hurry, hands full, distracted, running late. An unarmed alarm protects nothing, and the nights you forget are indistinguishable from not owning one.
A self-arming system removes the human from the loop. Digital Guard Dawg's product pages put it directly: "It's impossible to ever forget to protect your vehicle, it's all automatic."
Same logic on the other end. A car that locks itself as you walk away is never left unlocked because you got distracted.
Push button start alone is not PKE
This trips up a lot of buyers, and it's worth being blunt about.
A push button start kit replaces the ignition switch. You may still be pressing a fob button to unlock the doors. That's push button start without PKE — a real upgrade, but you're still operating a remote.
The complete keyless-go experience needs both:
Push button start = you don't turn a key PKE = you don't press anything at all
Digital Guard Dawg's FAQ draws the line the same way: push button start replaces the key-turn ignition; keyless go is the complete system where the car detects the fob in your pocket, unlocks automatically as you approach, and lets you start with one press.
Which systems include PKE
|
System |
Push start |
PKE |
Alarm |
Remote start |
Price |
|
✅ |
✅ Full PKE |
✅ |
✅ Optional |
$783 |
|
|
✅ |
Proximity ignition authorization + 5 accessory channels |
— |
— |
$665 |
|
|
✅ |
Proximity ignition authorization |
— |
— |
$589 |
|
|
✅ |
Uses your existing alarm's remote |
— |
Via your existing system |
$443 |
Prices as of July 2026.
The iKey Premier is the full keyless-go system. DGD describes it as bundling keyless ignition, passive keyless entry, alarm, and push button start into one package, delivering the same high-end feel found in luxury cars.
Its published behavior:
· Automatic unlocking — doors unlock and alarm disarms as you approach
· Push button start — one press once inside
· Self-arming security — locks and arms automatically when you walk away
· Optional remote engine start — warm up or cool down from a distance
How the fob does it
The iKey fob is dual-mode — it's both a passive proximity device and an active remote, which means you get automation without giving up manual control.
Passive operations (automatic, zero button presses): unlock doors and disarm alarm on approach; lock doors and arm alarm on departure.
Active operations (pressed when you want them): extended-range lock and unlock, trunk pop, remote start, plus whatever you've assigned to the aux channels.
And there's more capacity in it than most people use — the iKey fob carries six independent channels, enough for door locks, trunk release, power windows, remote start, power sunroof, convertible top, lighting or audio, all from one remote.
Authentication: Texas Instruments® RFID with DFDE — Dual Frequency ~ Dual Encryption and over 6 billion unique codes. The doors only open for a fob that passes an encrypted, two-frequency exchange.
Lost fob? Every PBS and iKey system ships with an Emergency Bypass Card and a user-programmable PIN. Spares are $15; spare iKey fobs are $79.
Or skip the fob entirely. The Watch Dawg ($199) conceals an RFID fob inside a wristwatch — you're wearing your credential. (Compatible with KIM, M1, AT-1, AT-1FX, PBS-M, PBS-MX, PBS-MXS, M24, GC12 and GC48 — not the iKey Premier.)
What PKE needs from your vehicle
To unlock doors, the system has to have doors it can actuate. That means power door locks.
Have them already? Nothing more needed.
Don't have them — common on classics? Add them:
|
Item |
Price |
|
$85 |
|
|
$159 |
|
|
$44 |
|
|
$49 |
The 2-door kit includes two heavy-duty two-wire reversing actuators, a door lock module, and installation instructions.
Running shaved doors? The iKey handles it — a dip switch turns PKE on for power locks or off for shaved doors, so the module adapts to the build instead of the other way around. Its internal door lock/unlock relays are rated 20A; DGD notes that door popper actuators drawing more than that should get external relays sized appropriately.
Aftermarket PKE vs. the factory version
Factory keyless entry systems on modern cars use standardized protocols, and those protocols are well documented — which is what makes tools like relay amplification attacks practical against them.
Digital Guard Dawg's FAQ addresses this directly: their RFID systems use DFDE with proprietary communication protocols, rather than the standardized signals used by factory keys, and the exchange requires close proximity plus encrypted two-way authentication.
The practical difference is fleet scale. A vulnerability in a factory system applies to every car of that model, worldwide, and the tooling gets built and sold because the target population is millions of vehicles. That economic incentive doesn't exist for a system with a different architecture on a much smaller installed base.
The cost comparison is just as one-sided. DGD's FAQ puts a dealer retrofit of a factory push-button start system at $1,500–3,000+. The iKey Premier is $783, and it adds an integrated alarm, an immobilizer, an emergency bypass card, a 6-channel fob, and a choice of 50+ start buttons no dealer will offer you.
Is it right for your build?
Yes, if: you want the complete luxury experience, you have or will add power door locks, and you'd rather install one module than four.
Consider PBS-I or PBS-II instead if: you're building a pre-1998 classic and want proximity-authorized push button start with 60A onboard relays and MSD filtering, without paying for door automation you won't use.
Consider PBS-X if: you already own a Viper, CompuStar, Idatalink, Prestige, Omega, Code Alarm, Crimestopper, Excalibur, Avital or Automate system. Keep the entry system you have, add RFID push button start for $443.
Questions? 1-877-246-5395, M–F 7am–5pm Pacific.
Sources
· Digital Guard Dawg — iKey Premier and install manual (PKE behavior, self-arming, dual-mode fob, 6 fob channels, DFDE/TI RFID/6 billion codes, 20A door lock relay rating, PKE on/off dip switch for shaved doors, optional remote start)
· Digital Guard Dawg — PBS-X (compatible alarm brands)
· Digital Guard Dawg — Power door lock kit, 2 door (included components)
· Digital Guard Dawg — Watch Dawg (compatibility list)
· Digital Guard Dawg — FAQ (push button start vs. keyless go definition, relay attack resistance, dealer retrofit cost comparison)
Verified 28 July 2026.
