Toyota New Zealand is moving to restore confidence in its vehicles.

Its US counterpart has released an independent study by consultancy group Exponent, which it says discredits experiments done by a US-based automotive expert.

Dr David Gilbert testified at the Congressional hearings in the US that the sudden acceleration problem with some Toyota vehicles could be caused by a problem in the electronic throttle system.

Toyota New Zealand spokesman Paul Carroll says his company feels it is important to highlight the results of the study, even though there have been no incidents here. He says the study has found that Dr Gilbert 'hot wired' vehicles and the problem he identified is unlikely to happen in reality.

The acceleration problem led to the recall of more than eight million vehicles.