Originally Posted by Brian Ratliff

Why do people insist on comparing carbon bike frames to aircraft? Just because the two are both called "carbon fiber" in the popular press doesn't mean they have much in common. At the very least, the layup of the material (you know, the variable which determines the strength of the part), is completely different. The resin is probably different. The stresses and the margins of safety of the design are different as well.

Bike frames, in general, are not made to withstand loading from a frontal collision. Because the frame broke after a collision doesn't, by itself, mean there is anything intrinsically wrong with the frame.