Consumer Catch-up: Ford re-starts F-150 production, Michaels toy recall, energy regulations impact clocks

Ford F-150s back in production soon

Ford says its popular F-150 trucks will hit the production lines again starting tomorrow at its plant in Michigan. Production at the plant in Missouri will restart Monday.

A fire earlier this month at a parts supplier forced the company to stop building the trucks.

"While the situation remains extremely dynamic, our teams are focused on returning our plants to full production as fast as possible," says Joe Hinrichs, Ford president, Global Operations.

The F-150 is Ford's best-selling pickup.

Michaels recalls craft toys

Michaels is recalling two children's craft toys from its stores. A battery inside the toys can overheat and catch fire.

The recall impacts Creatology Pottery Wheel kits and Creatology Spin Art kits. Creatology is Michaels' private label.

The company has three reports of overheating and one report of a battery fire among the two products. No one was hurt in any incident.

Customers should immediately return the items to a Michaels store for a full refund.

Energy regulations may be impacting your clock

You may have noticed your old plug-in clock getting off by a little everyone once in a while. Some scientists say it could be changing over time because of federal energy regulations!

These electric clocks keep time based on pulses of electric current that power them. Those pulses are usually stable and precise, due to power company regulations.

Those regulations are expensive, though, and last year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decided to nix them.

Energy officials insist other standards will keep the time in check. So far, clocks have only been off by a few seconds here and there. Still, some scientists estimate they could eventually be off by as much as 7 minutes.

Click here for a look at more stories by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.

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