The keyboard arrow selection doesn't select tabs, just moves the focus. This happens when the content area of RadRibbonView is minimizable and open.
To work this around, manually select the focused tab on key down.
private void RadRibbonView_PreviewKeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
var ribbon = (RadRibbonView)sender;
if (ribbon.IsMinimized && (e.Key == Key.Left || e.Key == Key.Right))
{
var focusedHeader = Keyboard.FocusedElement as RadRibbonTab;
if (focusedHeader != null && ribbon.SelectedItem != focusedHeader)
{
ribbon.SelectedItem = focusedHeader;
e.Handled = false;
}
}
}