i think the other thing is that you can usually tell when a tire is going bad by feel-----if it starts vibrating strangly or starts making noise, it's probably going to go--pretty soon.
i can't see a tire, just because it's 5-10 or more yrs old just going in an instant without any warning. Although, like people, i suppose it has and does happen(like with ford). But the more decent quality tires should give some warning signs.