Quote Originally Posted by billybovine View Post
I have to disagree with you. The chip in the key does need power. The power comes from the DESS antenna wrapped around the ignition switch. When the ignition is turned on. The DESS antenna sends electromagnetic pulse. This energises the key chip. It then responds by transmitting a code. I agree that no battery or physical connection required.
In fact it was this aspect of the DESS that was the cause of most of the DESS problems with the early 2014 models. The DESS, via the antenna, sent too strong a signal to the key, saturating the key and causing it to respond with mangled key codes.