I had this impression for a long time as well, because it was true, but it may not be true any more. I can't pull it up right now (at work) but Santa Cruz did a

I had this impression for a long time as well, because it was true, but it may not be true any more. I can't pull it up right now (at work) but Santa Cruz did a great video comparing the strength of their carbon fiber frames to their aluminum frames, and in all scenarios carbon fiber frames proved the strongest. This included dropping weights on frames and forks, hitting them with hammers, etc... it changed my mind quite a bit about the resilience of carbon fiber.