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The nice thing about carbon fiber is that it can provide exceptional rigidity compared to most other fibers, without the compression weakness of Aramid or Spectra. However, rigidity is the enemy of toughness, and in the real world, that is the way to light weight with durability. Realize that everything is a spring, and design your parts to distort in harmony.
Carbon fiber is still very energy-intensive to make, and is far too often applied for cosmetics or sales purposes, rather than being concentrated where needed. The reason F1 quit using a carbon/kevlar mix was so that when it broke, it could be patched back together like ceramics. With mostly Kevlar in a crash, you just get a bag, but the contents are safe.
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