Pull up the order history of any workshop that services Chinese electric vehicles, and a pattern starts to emerge. A sensor ordered for an Avatr 12 in March looks suspiciously similar to the one installed in a Deepal S7 in September. Same clamp-in body, same valve hardware, same black potting compound over the board. That’s not the aftermarket cutting corners — it’s the result of how these brands were built in the first place.
The part making this obvious right now is the BH-Sens BL-ST-041, a 433MHz pre-programmed tire pressure sensor from Baolong Technology, one of China’s largest domestic TPMS manufacturers. On paper it lists fitment for Avatr, Changan, Deepal, Mazda and Nevo, plus a sixth application the catalog hasn’t front-loaded into its title. Dig into the fitment table and the count lands at 52 vehicle applications, cross-referenced against three separate OE numbers: 3601010CD01, 3601010DG01 and 3601010MK02.
For independent shops and parts distributors, this kind of consolidation changes the math. One stocked SKU replaces what would otherwise be five or six dealer-only part numbers, each priced like it contains proprietary technology. Understanding why that happened — and how to verify fitment correctly — is quickly becoming a required skill for anyone working on modern Chinese vehicles.
The Changan Group Effect
The shared-sensor story traces back to corporate structure more than engineering laziness. Avatr isn’t an independent automaker in the traditional sense; it’s a high-end electric vehicle venture backed by Changan Automobile, Huawei and CATL. Deepal is wholly owned by Changan, launched in 2022 as the group’s volume-focused NEV brand. Nevo is simply the export-facing badge for Changan’s Qiyuan product line. And Changan Mazda — the long-running joint venture — started building the EZ-6 sedan on a Deepal-derived platform, which is how a Japanese badge ends up sharing hardware with a Chinese tech-forward EV.
When a group operates this way, procurement follows the platform, not the showroom badge. If Baolong wins the TPMS contract at the group level, the same sensor architecture gets validated across every vehicle program that shares the underlying electrical architecture. The radio protocol, modulation scheme, pressure range and relearn behavior stay consistent, so the OE part number carries forward with minor suffix variations rather than being redesigned from scratch for each brand.
This mirrors what the Volkswagen Group did for decades — one brake pad covering Golf, Octavia and Leon — except the Chinese version is moving faster because the brands are younger and the supply chain is more vertically integrated. Baolong has been supplying OE TPMS hardware inside China for years, so when Avatr needed sensors for the 11 and 12, the path of least resistance was the existing validated design.
Reading the Three OE Numbers
Those three OE references deserve a closer look, because they’re your best defense against a misordered part. All three share the base number 3601010, which is the group’s designation for a tire pressure sensing module. The letter-and-digit suffix tracks the specific vehicle program: the CD01 and DG01 variants map to different Changan-family applications and model years, while MK02 corresponds to the Mazda-built application.
Practical rule: when a customer gives you a VIN, decode it and match against the OE number before trusting a brand-name lookup. Trim levels and mid-cycle refreshes occasionally shift the suffix even within one model, and a sensor that pairs to the wrong protocol will light the dash no matter how new the battery is. Sellers who publish full OE cross-references — rather than just “fits Avatr” — make this verification possible in seconds.
Key Specs: BH-Sens BL-ST-041
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | BH-Sens (Baolong Technology) |
| SKU | BL-ST-041 |
| Frequency | 433 MHz |
| Mounting type | Clamp-in |
| Programming | Pre-programmed |
| OE cross-references | 3601010CD01, 3601010DG01, 3601010MK02 |
| Vehicle applications | 52 |
| Covered brands | Avatr, Changan, Deepal, Mazda, Nevo + 1 more |
Two entries in that table carry more weight than the rest. The 433MHz frequency confirms this is hardware for China-market specification vehicles — the standard across China and most Asian and European markets — which matters enormously if you’re sourcing parts for an imported Avatr or Deepal. And the pre-programmed designation determines what happens on your bench after the box arrives, which brings us to the workflow question.
What Pre-Programmed Saves You at the Bench
A pre-programmed sensor ships with the vehicle-specific protocol already flashed onto the chip. There’s no programming step with a TPMS diagnostic tool, no risk of selecting the wrong vehicle from a menu, and no waiting while a programmable blank writes itself. You mount the tire, torque the clamp-in nut to spec, and move straight to registration.
Registration on these Changan-group vehicles runs one of two ways depending on the model. Some perform a self-relearn after a sustained drive above roughly 30 km/h — the ECU picks up the new IDs automatically. Others expect an OBD-level registration where you enter each sensor ID through a scan tool. Either way, the total job time for a four-corner replacement drops well below an hour, which is exactly what a high-volume shop needs when these vehicles start arriving in meaningful numbers.
The clamp-in construction deserves a word of respect. Unlike snap-in rubber stems, clamp-in valves seal through a metal grommet and require proper torque on the retaining nut — overtighten and you deform the rim hole sealing surface, undertighten and you’ll chase a slow leak for weeks. Most quality clamp-in units run lithium coin cells good for five to eight years of service, so unless the customer is replacing due to corrosion damage, a failed battery usually means the original sensors have simply reached end of life together.
Worth flagging for customers importing Chinese-market EVs into regions like North America: verify frequency before ordering anything. US-specification vehicles overwhelmingly run 315MHz sensors, and a 433MHz unit will never pair with a 315MHz receiver regardless of how perfect the mechanical fit is.
Where This Trend Is Heading
Expect more consolidation, not less. As Changan-group platforms proliferate across Avatr, Deepal, Nevo and joint-venture products, the aftermarket opportunity shifts from chasing individual OE numbers to identifying the common denominator early. Distributors who recognized this pattern on Volkswagen platforms a decade ago built defensible inventory positions; the same play is open right now on Chinese NEVs, where dealer parts channels remain slow and expensive relative to demand.
There’s a caveat worth stating plainly. Not every cheap unbranded sensor claiming multi-fit coverage has actually been validated across those applications. The difference between a genuine OE-supplier part and a lookalike clone shows up months later as intermittent signal dropouts or premature battery failure — failures that land back on your lift with an angry customer. Sticking to manufacturers with documented OE lineage, as Baolong has, is cheap insurance.
For anyone running mixed fleets of Changan-family vehicles, the takeaway is straightforward: one drawer slot now covers nearly everything wearing those badges. If you’re ready to consolidate TPMS stock for these platforms, the BL-ST-041 | BH-Sens 433MHz TPMS Tire Pressure Sensor | Fits Avatr, Changan, Deepal, Mazda, Nevo & 1 More | OE# 3601010CD01, 3601010DG01, 3601010MK02 is the sensible starting point — a single pre-programmed, 433MHz clamp-in unit spanning 52 applications beats juggling five dealer part numbers, and it costs less than most single-application originals.
Recommended Part: BL-ST-041 – OE-grade replacement, in stock now.
