the basis of comparison, used by Congress's Office of Technology Assessment, is assembly defects. Beginning in the 1970s and extending through the 1980s, Japanese automakers held center stage in the worldwide quality drama. Quality in the best U.S. plant equaled that in East Asia, Mexico, and Brazil but did not equal that in Japanese or European plants. The worst plants in the United States allowed more defects than the worst plants of all other competitors except those in Europe.