Scratches behind door handle

i have found this on all 7 of our toyota's so far. the worst was my wife's black hycam. when we picked it up with only 4 miles on it, it already looked like that. i have taken to wearing a white glove to open the door.

 

I see a chrome door handle. 2016 Prius liftback does not have a chrome door handle on the outside.

 

Sorry to see that. I've never had that happen on ANY of my cars. What are you guys doing? Do you have claws or hands? LOL! Spend 5 bucks on fingernail clippers.

 

What do you think is making the scratches?

 

I have seen that scratch issue on many different brands of cars.
Yes, rings or X-men finger nails can cause the damage.

Not sure about Prius aftermarket, yet Benz sells chrome inserts for their cars and I have seen Mylar/ vinyl stick on for 1990 era Corvettes.

 

Lamin-x or someone make protectors that go in there. I'm not sure if they're vehicle specific of not though. Some good quality clear vinyl wrap pieces would work as well.

 

I've had it before, on a dark grey FORD, but it doesn't seem to show up on lighter colours (this isn't my car, just GOOGLE picture).

 

I enjoy the touch-sensitive - auto unlock. I can just place one finger behind the handle, and it will immediately beep and click and I pull it open with very little pressure. Nice feature. This Prius is making me lazy. Did the OP figure out what is causing the scratches?

 

I love it too - and lots more on PRIUS. Going to get more and more over the next few years, TESLA has just scratched the surface of what's possible.

I drove an older car recently - a '92 Camry. Hmmm - I won't give up being lazy in a hurry. I had to keep my distance from the car in front - it didn't even have CruiseControl.

 

I've had it happen on past cars, mostly from passengers (car pool partners as well as spouse) who are still holding their own car/house keys in the same hand they use to open my door. At least, that was my guess after noticing far more on the passenger door than driver door.

But it does seem worse on my Prius than on those past cars, particularly on the driver door.

 

I agree, the Prius paint does seem to be a little more delicate. Or soft. Especially on the plastic surfaces. I seem to get nicks & scratches on the front of this car more often than other cars.

 

Now that I'm thinking about it, my 2015 Tacoma was the same way with scratches behind the door handle.

 

I showed raspy's picture (thank you raspy) to my female friend. Then we went out to the car and had a "lesson" on how to open the door without scratching anything. I showed her how she can just use two fingers behind the handle, and gently open the door. Simple. And no keys in her hand! This car doesn't need any keys. We both want to keep this prius looking nice for a long time. It's the first new car we've had in many years.

 

I noticed this on a Black Ford I had some years ago and since then the only time I touch that area is to clean it when I wash the car.
Most car paints are water based these days and have been for probably the last 15 years or so, they do seem softer and easily scratched, especially in their early life. I suspect they take longer to harden.
FWIW, I have quite large hands but can easily open the door without touching the area behind the handle.

 

My wife's Pilot looks the same way. I just figured she left food inside and raccoons were trying to claw their way into it at night.

 

You guys gotta use one finger to open the door. The Prius paint is the worst...probably eco-friendly!