Quote."..I believe you're wrong here.. there is no circuit between the rod of the key and the PCB..." I'm just saying the same. How could any battery in the PCB be charged, or anything in between if there is not physical link?
My concern is the starting issue, not the lucking/unlucking since it is working, If you take the PCB out of the assembly(store it 5 miles away) will the core/metal still crank the starter? As far as I can observe there is not imbeded chip in the core...I still can not start the engine.