what purpose do the airtabs serve and any pics installed or writeups?
When I first got my smart I didn't like the way the wind off 18 wheelers or spring storms blew me around. I searched the Canadian site since they have had smarts for years and found some threads that said that Airtabs helped a little in combating this. For such a low cost I figured why not. So I bought 9 at about $3 each. Put six across the rear of the top above the rear window and the remaining three under the front end on the splash pan.
$64,000 question - do they work? I don't know for sure because no road driving is a controlled test. I think I feel more secure, but on a 1-10 scale, no more than a 3. You can go to AirTabs and read about and see. I have an engineer friend at Kenworth that has tested them and their comment was - "not much gain, but they don't hurt". I also thought they might keep the back window cleaner, but again not sure since after cutting the rear splash panel to show off Doug Thorley I get more spray pulling up on window, so I fixed it - Rain X.
What really has helped tame my car was the four, quality, larger tires. They really make it more comfortable driving the interstate next to big trucks. Not hands off, but not white knuckle either. Disclaimer - smart would not approve of these wheel or tire changes and probably would void warranty on anything tires/wheels could affect: brakes, suspension, transmission, to name a few.