[donsev]

Ahh, that's it.

I didn't think much of this until Redwing mentioned the seat belt clip. Then it hit me, we had a tear/gouge, exactly as you described, on our Lexus RX300 driver door panel. Of course no one fessed up, so a little detective work later, I found that occasionally the seat belt would not retract fully leaving the belt buckle clip to hang right between the door jamb and the door panel - right where the tear was.

 

[donsev]

Well, mine was a little easier to prove - it was near the fold that the door panel makes to wrap around the door jamb, and, I could see the matching scratch in the door jamb paint from the other end of the seat belt clip.

Good luck.