A vehicle bulb shield with material differences in configuration, thickness, strength, grade or surface coating in the leg and shield sections, manufactured from a tailor welded steel strip of different materials to obtain desired corresponding combinations of features in each component from each material. A progressive forming process is used to accommodate the different metal combinations within the tailor welded steel strip (e.g. material type and/or thickness), and thereby allow new material property configurations in the bulb shield components. A material property configured bulb shield design enables consideration of formability of material in different component sections, the rigidity of material in different component sections, and cost of different materials, in a single component design. Since vehicle bulb shields can be configured with locally different material properties, the improved tailor welded strip bulb shield with specific material property configurations in the different bulb shield components can possess higher rigidity, higher complexity and lower cost.