A vehicle interior panel includes a decorative skin and a polymer coating provided to increase material thickness at a desired portion of the decorative skin The polymer coating may be formed by a thermal spraying process in which a polymeric material is heated and deposited along an inner side of the decorative skin The decorative skin may be thermoformed from a uniformly thick sheet of thermoplastic material so that it includes a reduced thickness portion after forming. The polymeric material can be deposited along the reduced thickness portion to form the polymer coating, thereby restoring integrity or providing enhanced integrity to the decorative skin to aid subsequent material processes such as sewing or foam backfilling.