As far as the Ford tire thing the "other guys" were predominantly Firestone, I worked in a Firestone store then and it was goofy/ ANY other vehicle with those exact same tires had no problem with tires exploding. Yet every vehicle of any brand with those tires got them replaced for free because of the recall not only Ford exploders The problem was that back when the exploders came out the TV ad punch line was something like the "Truck that rides like a car". Part of the way they achieved that was that Ford engineers specc'd a tire pressure of 26 psi for that vehicle.
well every tire has a warning stamped in the side (and did then too) "under inflation and overloading can cause tire failure". We also had guides printed by the tire makers that listed every car and truck built that year and original tire sizes optional tire sizes,etc and had an appendix section for off road and farm equipment, that had charts for minimum recommended tire pressures by weight of vehicles and ply rating of tires.
The problem wound up being that with no cargo, just a 1/2 tank of gas and 1 occupant, at 26 psi those tires were horribly over loaded. Put at least 33 lb of air in the tires (which themselves were rated to be able to hold more) and they were sufficiently aired up for the weight of the vehicle, and wouldn't blow.
in the end it came out that it was Ford engineers that were to be blamed for that problem. And I knew several who owned those vehicles and they were sent updated air pressure spec stickers to be put over the originals in the door jamb. So even if you followed factory specs on what to air your tires up to, it wasn't enough to support that vehicle.
In that case the TPMS light wouldn't go on because pressures at that point were at design parameters. And the glorious computer would not show a problem when actually there was a big problem! I know more about that debacle, but I already have a long enough version of war and peace going on this post so I'll cut it off now.