Can you start the car with the SS/SE fob outside?

Doesn't work quite that way - once the car is started, you can drive away without it stopping. The car will beep and complain that the fob is out of range, but it won't shut off. Of course, the next time that you shut the car off, it would be impossible to restart without the fob.

I think what they may be referring to is this: The radio antennas that the car uses to determine the location of the fob are highly directional, and can sense very accurately if the fob is inside or outside. It is possible to start the car without physically sitting inside the vehicle, but you need to be VERY close (in my case, when demoing the car, needed to open the passenger door and stand next to the passenger seat with the fob in my pants pocket).

Now if the car was in an accident or collision and the radio antennas were bent or damaged, they might no longer be directionally-tuned to pickup only the inside of the car, and there's a chance that they could be pointing outside the car instead.

In the case, the 5 meter range just puts the fob outside of the receiver's relatively low-range.

Dave.