Re:How about this (Score 1)

The CMU front axle broke because they high-centered on a berm while taking a switch-back too tightly, their front wheels were off the ground and started spinning enough to set the tires on fire, and so DARPA hit their e-stop, which was a system which clamped down on their front axle - and the sudden force snapped it. CMU failed not because of their rollover (and the fatigue on their mechanical parts) but because their software relied more on pre-planned maps than on obstacle avoidance, and they hit crap and high-centered on stuff.