A system for activating a vehicle to a key-on state by detecting a presence of a near field communication (“NFC”) tag is provided. The system includes a vehicle bus, a start button in communication with the vehicle bus, an NFC antenna, and a control module. The NFC antenna is positioned to selectively couple with the NFC tag if the NFC tag is within a predetermined distance from the NFC antenna. The control module is in communication with the NFC antenna and the start button. The control module includes control logic for determining if the determining if the NFC antenna is coupled with the NFC tag. The control module includes control logic for determining if the start button has received the input to activate the vehicle to the key-on state. The control module includes control logic for sending a signal through the vehicle bus to activate the vehicle.