Hand me Down Prius with Red warning light

I glanced through a few posts and saw some similar problems, but my main concern is: Is it safe to drive?
So I got a 2007 Prius from my father in law with the deal it's mine if I fix it. The red triangle light is on as well as a bunch of other warning lights (regular check engine light, tire light, and I believe the brake warning light). He took it to a local Toyota dealer and they told him it's the cell batteries (which he has a guy that can work on those) and a problem in the dash computer system. Now, my father in law is almost 80, I was not with him so I am getting this information 2nd hand. He did not get a copy of the diagnostics, and can't remember what codes they told him only the price tag they said.
It cranks, it brakes, the screens are working. I've drove it around the neighborhood a few times to see what's happening, and it did just fine until I got to the driveway, where it lost it's "oomph" to get over the lip of the drive. Once it did make it into the drive, the fan kicked on (according to my father in law it was overheating).

For reference, they were living in Florida weather for the last few years and he got a uhaul trailer to bring it up to our location in N. Georgia. Last year it made the florida-georgia trip just fine, but has since had those lights.

What I want to do is just take it to the dealer myself and get the codes, and basically start from scratch with the repair process, but I need to know if it's safe to drive the 15 minutes to the dealer then the 30 minutes to my own home. It's sitting at his Georgia house right now, so there isn't much I can do myself until I get it home.

 

Okay, thanks for the info! I drove this car one time for a trip back in 2014 so I roughly know what to expect when it works, but read somewhere about the cell batteries melting in other cars. Yes the fan was in the back, next to the back seat. At first it sounded like an AC cut on. I didn't hear it at all until parking, after I had to give it a bit more push to get in the drive. The battery on the display definitely did the up and down, but it was a hilly neighborhood I did 2 laps around so I know that's not a great gage.

Edit: Now that I think about it I'm not sure which screen I had on. It was the one with the tires, motor, and battery and showing the flow of the gas/hybrid boost. That one was doing the up and down, but I don't know if that's the correct screen. I'm gonna double check next time I take a look at it.

 

They gave him some run around about the guy who did it not being there to give him the copy, and it's been about 2 months. Again, second hand information. Our dealer does free diagnostics on all Toyotas, whether you bought them from the dealer or not. I used to take my Corolla there, so I assumed it would just be easier to get a new diagnostic.

 

Yeah, they're great.
That was my plan, my husband was gonna drive his truck down there in case we need to get a dolly to haul it home. Thanks for the response! We might try to pick it up this weekend.

 

Thanks! I hit a deer with my corolla, so when my FIL gave me the option to just take his prius I jumped at it. I was looking to upgrade my corolla to a cross over type vehicle (maybe the Nissan Rogue) so this is a good thing for me. I think I will definitely be just replacing the battery, he had the batteries worked on a few years ago so I know it's a matter of time before the rest of the cells go bad (if they aren't all bad anyway). I believe the quote the dealer gave him was around 1500-2000, another reason I want to get a new diagnostics.