In the US at least RV are interesting as far as safety regulations go. Its probably a good peek into what would happen if you removed a bunch of regulation for the normal car industry.

No crash testing, no air bags, questionable electrical wiring for a moving vehicle. Flexible propane gas line running into moving slide systems.

I have a modern class A which I love, but its built like a 70's automobile, some real head scratching engineering decisions, some of which I have fixed.

If you get into RVing especially the larger ones the tire issue is one you worry about and see talked about constantly.

The article touched on it some in talking about how Goodyear defended themselves in the suit, and some of it is valid.

RV's tend to sit for long periods of time unused, this causes all sorts of issues including the tires. RV tire almost always age out rather than wear out. You should be replacing them at 7 years and they will have plenty of tread when you do. Many RV's are traveling around with 10 year old tires that the owners wont replace because they are very expensive and the tread look fine. There is some debate on if the sitting flat spots them that also contributes to failure issues. They also also typically have sidewall cracking due to long term UV exposure and sitting without flexing.

Large RV tires are very sensitive to weight and inflation pressure, much more so than any car I have ever owned. Large vehicles seem to be generally closer to failure limits on all components involved. A under inflated tire seems to be a common cause of blowouts. Again due to sitting for long periods, many will go to take a trip and not bother to check the tire pressure before leaving. Also very few large RV's have TPMS systems, there is a large industry of after market TPMS for RV's that pretty much every recommends you should purchase one of. TPMS should be required by law as I believe they are on cars now. My RV requires at least 82 psi minimum, I run 90 and make sure its maintained.

The article mentions the G159's where only rated for 65 mph, a little low, most RV tires including mine are only rated for 70mph. I drive my RV at 65 and below and stay in the rightmost lane except in a very rare passing circumstance. Driving above 65 and especially 70 mph is a menace IMO and I have seen it plenty of times with a large class A passing everyone in the left lane towing a car. There was a video that was going around the RV site not long ago showing a bad blowout of someone doing that [1].

There is a whole aftermarket of parts designed to make RV's safer in a blowout, a popular one is safe-t-plus [2], because if you do have a front blowout like that video RV's are very difficult to control due to the weight shift forward. It is actually recommended to not hit your brake but accelerate slightly to stay in control and prevent the brake dive, then slowly come to a stop. Hard to remember in that situation.

RV overloading is pretty common too. Many people don't understand the gross weight ratings and many RV's are built with so many features and heavy materials that there have actually been cases of them being over the weight rating if you fill them with gas and have two people on board. My RV has 2500 lbs of carry capacity with a full fuel tank and 5000 lbs of towing. If I fill the water tank that's 600 lbs off the carry capacity, then people and gear. Its recommend to go on a scale and weigh after loaded up to make sure your within your limits. I tow a 4500 lbs Jeep, again many don't pay attention to tow rating and tow their full size pickup weighing 6000 lbs plus a 1000 lb golf cart in the bed.

Bottom line the Goodyear was under specced but RV's are not like cars but many people treat them the same, no training is required to drive one unlike a large semi or bus. They really need to be regulated for crash safety and tpms. More headroom is needed in design such as tire speed rating and chassis weight ratings or perhaps more training required to operate them.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LkLeljt4t0
2. http://www.safe-t-plus.com/