The term 'accident' is ambiguous and can include at-fault, not-at-fault, reported and unreported collisions that you, as the driver, were involved in.

A definition of an accident would be a sudden fortuitous event. The term is often used to refer to a collision or insurance event. With road rage and other occurrences that are creating granular definitions, some states are trying to add more legal language to the definition in order to make sure an accident is covered by an insurance carrier. It should be covered by an insurance carrier. Some states simply say it is an occurrence that is unexpected and unintended from the standpoint of the person who is injured.

As far as if a tire blowout would be considered an accident, where there is a covered loss for an insurer to pay on, would depend on if the tire blow out caused the car to be damaged or if it is just the tire that suffered damage. If it was the latter then it probably would not be considered a covered insurance event. It would also depend upon the terms of the driver's policy and that insurance provider's internal guidelines.

The terms of insurance policies differ but in many cases blowouts or tire/rim damage that is not caused by theft or vandalism or is not a result of a vehicle collision causing tire or rim damage are not covered.

Thus if a tire and/or rim is damaged from either theft, vandalism or a collision then it will be up to the terms of your "full coverage" if these items standard to the car will be covered or not. So read through the terms of your insurance policy and/or speak to your agent about your specific coverages.

Generally when an automobile part, such as a tire, causes an accident a comprehensive policy would cover damages that resulted from the accident but not necessarily the replacement cost of tire.

If you had recently had the tires a tire blowout then check with your insurance agent to see if this would be covered by your policy. If not then you may check to see if the tire that blew has any known defects which you could go after the manufacturer for.

You can a definition for accident in the Car Insurance Learning Center.