I have a Versa S '11 model and that one absolutely uses a chipkey as I have removed the chip to then use a regular key. The chip gets hidden elsewhere in the car to be there when needed and keys lost cannot be a problem. Remove the chip; the car does not start.
I saw some NATS sheets by Nissan somewhere on the web and some '11 Versa models did not use a chipkey, can't say other than how mine is. No chip the car will not whirl starter to start engine. On mine the ECM must match the chip, they compare at key on and a match starts car. You can tell by what the little car icon light does when you turn key to start.
Pretty sure the BCM has to match the ECM so they can communicate.
I saw some NATS sheets by Nissan somewhere on the web and some '11 Versa models did not use a chipkey, can't say other than how mine is. No chip the car will not whirl starter to start engine. On mine the ECM must match the chip, they compare at key on and a match starts car. You can tell by what the little car icon light does when you turn key to start.
Pretty sure the BCM has to match the ECM so they can communicate.