Toyota pays a $200 bounty for any dead battery brought in. And they do recycle them - it's tougher to recycle than a lead based chemistry, but nickel is valuable enough to reclaim.

I am not entirely sure what is meant by "risks of car crashes is untested." These cars have been in commercial use in the tens of thousands for over 6 years, have been crashed in use and government testing many times, and have shown no unusual risks. Provided you don't eat a large quantity of the wreckage and survive the mechanical trauma, you're fine. These new and scary hybrids have been being sold for almost 10 years now (the first model sold 1997 - 1999 in Japan). They really aren't new and scary anymore.

Lead acid batteries (LABs) are highly toxic and without proper recycling can wreak enormous environmental damage (hence widespread legislation requiring their recycling and Greenpeace's 90's ranting about offshore LAB recycling). NiMH do not use toxic components, and are recyclable. Environmentally, there is no valid comparison between the chemistries. Lumping NiMH in with LAB is just wrong.