My friend plays Karakuri's and most of his cards say "This card must attack if able". So if his card is in face-up defense position, and has that effect, does he have to change it to attack position and attack with it?
No. The "if able" part pretty well explains that. If he has a card with that text in attack position at the end of Main Phase 1, he must enter the Battle Phase and attack with it.
In other words, if you normal summon it in M1, you cant skip BP if it stays in attack or by effect. If its in summoned last turn and it is still face-up, you can manually change it to defense or attack again.