'00 Passat 1.8T 120,000miles - Drove home from a 4 hour trip yesterday and everything was fine.
Today, there is no A/C, Fans, Wipers and signals.
But the Lights, windows, radio, P/Locks and P/mirrors are working fine.
All fuses have been checked (visually) and appear ok. I swapped positions of some of the fuses to see if problem moves/changes but got the same results
When I turn the climate control fan on nothing happens but the handbrake warning alarm comes on if the car is moving at +20mph. Turn fan position to off and the alarm goes off.
Didn't notice any burning smell and can't see any obvious signs of wire damage.

Has anyone see or heard of this before? Would appreciate some feedback.

I had this same issue with my 99 Passat. As it turns out, an upgrade of my driving lights to a higher wattage, caused the wiring and, the multi-function switch itself to... um... MELT!!! :angryfire

This explains the intermittent (at first anyway) aspect of this issue, for me at least. The fix was a replaced switch and some re-wiring. Moral of the story, "Better to drive with poor lighting then, not drive at all..." :disappoin

I guess an alternative would be to upgrade wiring as well...

Looks like its time to bring the car to the VW dealer to get it checked out...